bishop

noun

bish·​op ˈbi-shəp 

plural bishops

1

: someone having spiritual or ecclesiastical supervision over others: such as

a

: an Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic clergyperson ranking above a priest, having authority to ordain and confirm, and typically governing a diocese

b

: any of various Protestant clerical officials who superintend other clergy

c

: a Mormon high priest presiding over a ward or over all other bishops and over the Aaronic priesthood

2

: either of two pieces of each color in a set of chessmen having the power to move diagonally across any number of adjoining unoccupied squares

3

: mulled port wine flavored with oranges and cloves

Examples of bishop in a Sentence

the Bishop of New York

Recent Examples on the Web

Pope Francis remains enthusiastic about the Vatican’s provisional agreement with China on the appointment of bishops. —Nina Shea, National Review, 22 Oct. 2024

The pope has been keen to engage with the Chinese Communist Party, which has historically controlled the appointment of bishops in the country, independent of the Vatican. —Karishma Vaswani, The Mercury News, 14 Sep. 2024

The Vatican is currently renegotiating a controversial deal with China over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the country, which is up for renewal in October. —Reuters, NBC News, 12 Sep. 2024

As a result of tensions surrounding the appointment of bishops and the Holy See’s ties with Taiwan, no pope has ever visited China. —Koh Ewe, TIME, 3 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English bisshop, from Old English bisceop, from Late Latin episcopus, from Greek episkopos, literally, overseer, from epi- + skeptesthai to look — more at spy

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing bishop

• auxiliary bishop

Kids Definition

bishop

noun

bish·​op ˈbish-əp 

1

: a high-ranking member of various sects of the Christian clergy usually in charge of a diocese

2

: a chess piece that moves diagonally

Etymology

Old English bisceop "bishop," from Latin episcopus (same meaning), from Greek episkopos, literally, "overseer," from epi- "on, over" and skopos "watcher, goal, object" — related to episcopal, horoscope, scope

Word Origin

The Old English word bisceop, from which we get our modern English word bishop, comes to us from the Latin word episcopus. Like many other Latin words connected with religion and the church, this was borrowed from Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written. The Greek word episkopos, meaning literally "overseer," was first used of officials in government and later came to be used for church leaders. In the Bible the word meaning "bishop" and the word meaning "priest" were used for the same thing. It was not until much later that the bishop did indeed become overseer of a large district, or diocese.

Biographical Definition

Bishop 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

Bish·​op ˈbi-shəp 

Elizabeth 1911–1979 American poet

Bishop

2 of 2

biographical name (2)

J(ohn) Michael 1936–     American microbiologist