Meanings
plural episcopates
- Bishops seen as a group.
The American Roman Catholic episcopate meets regularly.
Synonyms: bishopdom, bishopry, episcopacy
- The tenure in office of a bishop.
Bishop Smith's episcopate ran for more than 30 years.
Synonyms: bishopric, bishopry, bishopship, bishophood
present singular third person episcopates · participle present episcopating · participle past episcopated · past episcopated
- intransitiveTo act as a bishop.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounBishops seen as a group.
nounThe tenure in office of a bishop.
nounA bishop's jurisdiction, the extent of his diocese.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἐπίσκοπος“watching over”
- Latinepiscopus
- Late Latinepiscopatus
- Englishepiscopate
From Late Latin episcopatus, from Latin episcopus, from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “watching over”).
More words from Late Latin, Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto episkoparo, geepiskopoj
- episkoparobishops as a group
- geepiskopojbishops as a group
- virepiskoparobishops as a group
- episkopinarobishops as a group
German Episkopat, Weltepiskopat
- Episkopatbishops as a group
- Weltepiskopatbishops as a group
Polish episkopat
- episkopatbishops as a group
Cite this entry
episcopate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopate
“episcopate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “episcopate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopate.
Source: episcopate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.