Prince-primate
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An honorary title given to an especially prominent archbishop with certain secular prerogatives, in particular:; The archbishop of Esztergom in Hungary. historical
"Soon, on the right, appears the cathedral of Grann [Esztergom], a miniature of St. Peter’s, in something like red porphyry, built within this century by the prince-primates, at their own private expense […]"
- 2 An honorary title given to an especially prominent archbishop with certain secular prerogatives, in particular:; The prince-primate of the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine, Karl von Dalberg. historical
"The act of the Confederation also seemed to hold forth some hope that the new federation might develop a growing community of its German member states. Apart from the presidency of the prince-primate, it mentioned the establishment of two colleges, those of the kings and princes."
Example
More examples"Soon, on the right, appears the cathedral of Grann [Esztergom], a miniature of St. Peter’s, in something like red porphyry, built within this century by the prince-primates, at their own private expense […]"
Etymology
From prince + primate, a calque of German Fürstprimas. In the case of the archbishop of Esztergom, the title derived from his status as primate of Hungary and a prince of the Holy Roman Empire from 1715.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.