- relating to or proceeding from a pope or from the office of the pope; papal: This document gathers together and sums up all the pontifical teachings on Saint Thomas Aquinas.The pontifical court of Innocent IV was maintained at Lyons rather than Rome.
- (of an academic institution) established or certified by the office of the pope and covering disciplines directly related to Christian belief, such as theology, philosophy, and canon law: The outspoken Dominican nun teaches theology at a pontifical university in Rome.
- pompous, dogmatic, or pretentious: His coworkers resented his lofty and pontifical manner, which they found arrogant.
- (in the Western Church) a book containing the forms for the sacraments and other rites and ceremonies to be performed by bishops: She has recently published her thesis about an illuminated Pontifical made in 1350 for the archbishop of Narbonne.
- the vestments and other insignia of a pontiff, especially a bishop.
- of, relating to, or characteristic of a pontiff, the pope, or a bishop
- having an excessively authoritative manner; pompous
- a book containing the prayers and ritual instructions for ceremonies restricted to a bishop
