episcopy

E1P3I1S1C3O1P3Y4

noun

Supervision; superintendence.

OriginAncient Greek ἐπισκοπή →
Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounepiscopy (countable and uncountable, plural episcopies)

plural episcopies

  1. countableobsoleteuncountableSupervision; superintendence.

    There are most weighty reasons why the Church ought to lay aside episcopacy, and return to the apostolical institution of presbyters

    1692, John Milton, translated by [Joseph Washington], A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC
  2. countableobsoleteuncountableEpiscopacy.

    It was the universal doctrine of the Church of God for many ages , even for fourteen Centuries of years , that Episcopy is […]Divine […]

    1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in All Her General Measures; […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] James Flesher, for Richard Royston […], →OCLC

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἐπισκοπή
  2. Englishepiscopy

From Ancient Greek ἐπισκοπή (episkopḗ), from ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer, bishop”). See bishop. First attested in 1642 in John Milton’s The Reason of Church-Government Urged against Prelaty.

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

episcopy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopy

MLA

“episcopy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “episcopy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/episcopy.

Source: episcopy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.