primacy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The state or condition of being prime or first, as in time, place, rank, etc.

   The court affirmed the primacy of federal law.

2. 2
   noun

   The office, rank, or character of a primate, it being the chief ecclesiastical station or dignity in a national church.

   Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, emphasized the many areas of agreement between Pope Francis and himself in response to the social concerns of the day.

From Old French primacie, from Medieval Latin primatia (“office of a church primate”), from Latin primas plus a suffix corresponding to -acy. By surface analysis, prime + -acy.

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