suffragan
Americanadjective
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assisting or auxiliary to, as applied to any bishop in relation to the archbishop or metropolitan, or as applied to an assistant or subsidiary bishop who performs episcopal functions in a diocese but has no ordinary jurisdiction, as, in the Church of England, a bishop consecrated to assist the ordinary bishop of a see in part of his diocese.
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(of a see or diocese) subordinate to an archiepiscopal or metropolitan see.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- suffraganship noun
Etymology
Origin of suffragan
1350–1400; Middle English suffragane < Medieval Latin suffrāgāneus voting, equivalent to suffrāg ( ium ) suffrage + -āneus, composite adj. suffix, equivalent to -ān ( us ) -an + -eus -eous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Rev. Carl Wright, the Episcopal Church's bishop suffragan for armed services and federal ministries, offered the blessing as Maj.
From Fox News • Jan. 14, 2020
The Holy Eucharist with the ordination and consecration of Carl Walter Wright as bishop suffragan for the armed forces and federal ministries.
From Washington Post • Feb. 10, 2017
She served as the suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts until 2003.
From New York Times • Oct. 4, 2016
The first four dioceses that could choose women as a senior bishop are Southwell & Nottingham, Oxford, Gloucester and Newcastle, although five other, more junior posts of suffragan bishop could be filled even sooner.
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2014
The Archbishop of Sens, whose suffragan the Bishop of Paris was, had died about Easter, 1309, and the pope had reserved the nomination to himself.
From Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Keightley, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.