Patronate

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The right or duty of a patron; patronage. uncountable

    "Whose will shall be clothed with the dominancy of the matter; the will of the Home Secretary of the day, and a small body of the landlords, or the will of the recipients of the eucharist in the parish—the patronate or the congregational will?"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to a patron. not-comparable

    "“L’ imperatore istesso sotto varii pretesti di spogli, di juspatronati, di concessioni apostoliche, di avocarie, di incamerationi e di pienezza di potestà trattiene le chiese gli amii vacanti, et in quel mentre se ne preride per se l’ entrate.”—[The emperor himself, under various pretexts of spolia, patronate rights, apostolical concessions, rights of advocation, of confiscation and of plenary power, keeps the churches in vacant years, and meanwhile takes their revenues to himself.]"

Example

More examples

"Whose will shall be clothed with the dominancy of the matter; the will of the Home Secretary of the day, and a small body of the landlords, or the will of the recipients of the eucharist in the parish—the patronate or the congregational will?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin patrōnātus. By surface analysis, patron + -ate (noun-forming suffix denoting a rank or office).

Etymology 2

From the noun or Latin patrōnātus. By surface analysis, patron + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.