(in ancient Rome) any of the senior members of the Pontifical College, presided over by the Pontifex Maximus
Word origin
C16: from Latin, perhaps from Etruscan but influenced by folk etymology as if meaningliterally: bridge-maker, from pons bridge + -fex from facere to make
Examples of 'pontifices' in a sentence
pontifices
One issue in this ideological struggle was the interpretation of religious duties, traditionally taught by the priestly college of pontifices.