Vatican
adj, name ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Relating to the Vatican City state. not-comparable
"Unlike most other countries in the world, citizenship in Vatican City isn’t solely provided to people that are born in the country. As there are no hospitals in the Vatican State, virtually no one is born in there. Instead, Vatican citizenship is provided on a ‘jus officii’ basis."
- 1 The official residence of the Pope within Vatican City, the Vatican or Apostolic Palace.
- 2 The papal government; the papacy, the Holy See. metonymically
- 3 A city-state in Southern Europe, an enclave within the city of Rome, Italy.
"Unlike most other countries in the world, citizenship in Vatican City isn’t solely provided to people that are born in the country. As there are no hospitals in the Vatican State, virtually no one is born in there. Instead, Vatican citizenship is provided on a ‘jus officii’ basis."
- 4 The Vatican Hill in Rome, where the palace and Vatican City are located.
"He [Caligula] began to build a circus upon the Vatican."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The Sistine Chapel is a vast chapel built inside the Vatican Palace in 1473."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin Vātī̆cānus (“Vatican Hill”), further etymology unknown. The connection to vāticinārī (“to prophesy, oracle”) is folk-etymological.
Related phrases
More for "vatican"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.