Pilate

//ˈpaɪlət// adj, name

adj, name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    the Roman procurator of Judea who ordered that Jesus be crucified (died in AD 36) wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Resembling hair; minutely clavate.

    "pilate pollen"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Pontius Pilate, the man who, according to the Bible, ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.

    "I was 'round when Jesus Christ / Had his moment of doubt and pain / Made damn sure that Pilate / Washed his hands and sealed his fate"

Synonyms

All synonyms
pontius pilatepontius pilate

Example

More examples

"The world famous Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy's Christ Trilogy includes the paintings entitled "Christ before Pilate", "Golgotha" and "Ecce Homo"."

Etymology

The surname is from Latin Pīlātus (“a Roman cognomen”, literally “armed with javelins”), from pilum (“javelin, pestle”), of unknown ultimate origin.

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