prelacy
/ˈprɛləsi
/noun (plural prelacies) [mass noun] chiefly archaic
1The government of the Christian Church by clerics of high social rank and power.It appears as if the most extreme of anti-episcopal theologies is now wedded to an American ecclesial body distinctive precisely through its commitment to ‘prelacy.’...
- Initially this was limited to the ‘prelacy’ of Anglican episcopacy; but in time he turned against Presbyterian religious/political ordering, and later against other forms of religious control.
- There are many puritans in Lower Potawatomi Valley, who are possibly descendants of those who long ago opposed ceremonial worship and the prelacy of the Church of England.
1.1 [count noun] The office or rank of a prelate.The Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America is affiliated with and under the jurisdiction of the Holy See of the Great House of Cilicia
1.2 (the prelacy) Prelates collectively.
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French prelacie, from medieval Latin prelatia, from praelatus (see prelate).
Rhymes
- undercoat
- under colour of
- under consideration
- underconsumption
- under control
- undercook
- undercool
- undercount
- under cover
- undercover
- under cover of
- undercrackers
- undercroft
- undercurrent
- undercut
- underdaks
- underdamp
- under debate
- underdetermination
- underdetermine
- underdeveloped
- underdevelopment
- underdog
- underdone
- underdrawing