pontifex maximus

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 new pontifex maximus has much work ahead of him to wrangle the faithful into unity.

From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2025

If he sometimes sounds like a pontifex maximus, he generally talks neither down nor with false humility.

From Time Magazine Archive

Implicit subordination of all to the high priest of Huitzilopochtli, hereditary pontifex maximus, chastity, or at least temperate indulgence in pleasure, gravity of carriage, and strict attention to duty, were laws laid upon all.

From The Myths of the New World A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America by Brinton, Daniel Garrison

In later times the flamines still retain their original character, the pontifices and especially the pontifex maximus are responsible for the whole organisation of the state-religion and are the guardians and interpreters of religious lore.

From The Religion of Ancient Rome by Bailey, Cyril

The story suggests to me that the rite had been at one time well known; the pontifex maximus was ready with the instructions and formula.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by Fowler, W. Warde