pontifical

1. Of or pertaining to a pontiff.
   1. Of or pertaining to a bishop; episcopal.
   2. Of or pertaining to a pope; papal.
2. Pompous, dignified or dogmatic.
3. Splendid; magnificent.
4. Of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome.
5. Of or relating to the building of bridges.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 9”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Now had they brought the work by wondrous art / Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock / Over the vexed abyss.

• French: pontifical

pontifical (plural pontificals)

1. A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a pontiff.