Meanings
cathedral1
adjectivecathedral (not comparable)
- not comparableRelating to the office of a bishop or an archbishop.
cathedral2
nouncathedral (plural cathedrals)
plural cathedrals
- The principal church serving as the office (and some as place of residence) of an archdiocese's/a diocese's archbishop/bishop which is symbolized by an episcopal throne known as the cathedra.
The bishop presided over the ceremony from his seat in the cathedral.
- broadlyinformalA large or important church building.
- figurativelyA large, impressive, lofty, and/or important building or place of some other kind.
a cathedral of commerce
- A large buttressed structure built by certain termites.
Cathedral3
proper nounthe Cathedral
alternative rare the cathedral
- USneologismDark Enlightenment and libertarianismgovernmentThe mainstream system or establishment in society, regarded as liberal or leftist.
The reaction from the Cathedral—the press, the political establishment, and everyone else who shaped acceptable opinion—was quick and unanimous
2019 May 14, Michael Malice, “The Strike” (chapter 3), in The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics, →ISBN, from third sentence of third paragraph2 more examples
This is why grown-up men and women in the Cathedral (to use the neoreactionary term for the Establishment) actually believe that the MAGA yahoos of January 6 nearly overthrew the US government.
2022 January 14, Rod Dreher, “Neckbeard Militias Are Not My Enemy”, in The American Conservative, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2022[Curtis Yarvin] is forthright in his belief that the present order — to his mind, an oligarchy governed by a complex of elite institutions (like this newspaper) that he calls “the Cathedral” — should be overthrown
2022 December 10, Ross Douthat, “A Political Theory of King Elon Musk”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2024
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe principal Christian church building of a bishop's diocese
Similar
Broader
churchchurch building
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
cathedral · adjective
- Ancient Greekκαθέδρα“chair of a teacher, throne”
- Latincathedrālis
- Old French[Term?]
- Middle Englishcathedral
- Englishcathedral
From Middle English cathedral, chathedral, cathiderall, from Old French [Term?], from Latin cathedrālis, from cathedra + -ālis, from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra, “chair of a teacher, throne”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →cathedral · noun
- Late Latinecclēsia cathedrālis“church serving as the bishop's or archbishop's office”
- Middle Englishchirche cathederall
- Englishcathedral
Ellipsis of cathedral church, from Middle English chirche cathederall, cathedrall chirch, calque of Late Latin ecclēsia cathedrālis (“church serving as the bishop's or archbishop's office”), from Latin ecclēsia + cathedrālis. Displaced Old English hēafodċiriċe (literally “main church, head church”).
More words from Middle English, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cathedral · proper noun
From cathedral. Coined by American far-right political theorist and computer scientist Curtis Yarvin, writing as Mencius Moldbug.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans katedraal
- katedraalchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Arabic كَاتِدْرَائِيَّة
- كَاتِدْرَائِيَّة (kātidrāʔiyya)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Basque katedral
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Bengali ক্যাথেড্রাল
- ক্যাথেড্রাল (kêtheḍral)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Bulgarian катедра́ла, катедра́ла
- катедра́ла (katedrála)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- катедра́ла (katedrála)big church building
Catalan catedral, catedral
- catedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- catedralbig church building
Chinese Mandarin 大教堂, 主教座堂
- 大教堂 (dàjiàotáng)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- 主教座堂 (zhǔjiàozuòtáng)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- 大教堂 (dàjiàotáng)big church building
- 大教堂 (Dàjiàotáng)Translations
Czech katedrála
- katedrálachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Danish domkirke, katedral
- domkirkechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedralbig church building
Dutch kathedraal
- kathedraalchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Esperanto katedralo, katedralo
- katedralochurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedralobig church building
Estonian katedraal, toomkirik
- katedraalchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- toomkirikchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Finnish tuomiokirkko, katedraali
- tuomiokirkkochurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedraalichurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- kirkkobig church building
- katedraalibig church building
French cathédral, cathédrale
- cathédralrelating to the office of a bishop or an archbishop
- cathédralechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- cathédralebig church building
German Bischofskirche, Dom
- Bischofskirchechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- Domchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- Domkirchechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- Hauptkirchechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- Kathedralechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- Bischofskirchebig church building
- Dombig church building
- Domkirchebig church building
- Hauptkirchebig church building
- Kathedralebig church building
Greek μητρόπολη, καθεδρικός ναός
- μητρόπολη (mitrópoli)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- καθεδρικός ναός (kathedrikós naós)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- επισκοπή (episkopí)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- καθεδρικός ναός (kathedrikós naós)big church building
Hebrew קָתֶדרָלָה
- קָתֶדרָלָה (katedrala)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Hindi कैथेड्रल, कैथेड्रल
- कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- कैथेड्रल (kaitheḍral)big church building
- गिरजा (girjā)big church building
- गिर्जा (girjā)big church building
- गिरजाघर (girjāghar)big church building
- गिर्जाघर (girjāghar)big church building
- कलीसा (kalīsā)big church building
- कलीसिया (kalīsiyā)big church building
Hungarian székesegyház, katedrális
- székesegyházchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedrálischurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- dómchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Icelandic dómkirkja
- dómkirkjachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Indonesian katedral
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Irish An Teampall Mór, ardeaglais
- An Teampall Mórchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- ardeaglaischurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Italian cattedrale, duomo
- cattedralechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- duomochurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- cattedralebig church building
- duomobig church building
Japanese 大聖堂
- 大聖堂 (daiseidō)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Korean 대성당
- 대성당 (daeseongdang)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Latvian katedrāle
- katedrālechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Lithuanian katedra
- katedrachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Malay katedral, gereja besar
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- gereja besarchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Norwegian Bokmål katedral, domkirke
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- domkirkechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Polish katedra
- katedrachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Portuguese catedral, catedral
- catedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- catedralbig church building
Romanian catedrală, catedrală
- catedralăchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- catedralăbig church building
Russian собо́р, кафедра́льный собо́р
- собо́р (sobór)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- кафедра́льный собо́р (kafedrálʹnyj sobór)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- собо́р (sobór)big church building
Scottish Gaelic àrd-eaglais, cathair-eaglais
- àrd-eaglaischurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- cathair-eaglaischurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- prìomh-eaglaischurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Slovak katedrála
- katedrálachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Spanish catedral, catedral
- catedralrelating to the office of a bishop or an archbishop
- catedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- catedralbig church building
Swahili kanisa kuu
- kanisa kuuchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Swedish domkyrka, katedral
- domkyrkachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Tagalog katedral
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Thai อาสนวิหาร
- อาสนวิหาร (àat-sà-ná-wí-hǎan)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Turkish katedral, başkilise
- katedralchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- başkilisechurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Ukrainian собо́р, собо́р
- собо́р (sobór)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- собо́р (sobór)big church building
Urdu کَیتِھڈْرَل
- کَیتِھڈْرَل (kaithiḍral)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Vietnamese nhà thờ chính tòa, đại giáo đường
- nhà thờ chính tòachurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- đại giáo đườngchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- nhà thờ lớnchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Welsh cadeiriol, eglwys gadeiriol
- cadeiriolrelating to the office of a bishop or an archbishop
- eglwys gadeiriolchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
- cadeirlanchurch serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Yiddish קאַטעדראַל
- קאַטעדראַל (katedral)church serving as the office of the diocese's bishop and archdiocese's archbishop
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with cathedral
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
cathedral. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cathedral
MLA
“cathedral.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cathedral. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cathedral,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cathedral.
Source: cathedral on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.