archbishop

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a senior Christian bishop who leads an archdiocese or presides over a province of dioceses

   The archbishop addressed clergy from every diocese in the province.

From Middle English archebischop and Old English arcebiscop, ultimately from Ecclesiastical Latin archiepiscopus and Greek arkhiepiskopos. It combines arkhi-, 'chief or first,' with episkopos, 'overseer,' the source of bishop. The compound therefore literally denotes a chief bishop.

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