ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Conclave

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /ˈkɒnkleɪv/ · Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Conclave is a noun meaning The set of apartments in which cardinals are secluded while the process to elect a pope takes place.

Meaning

The set of apartments in which cardinals are secluded while the process to elect a pope takes place.

More Meanings

  1. A group of cardinals assembled to elect a new pope.
  2. A closed assembly at which cardinals elect a pope.
  3. To participate in a closed, private, or secret meeting.
  4. (Roman Catholicism) Of a cardinal: to attend a closed assembly to elect a pope.
  5. (obsolete) A private chamber or room.

Example Sentences

papal conclave
Two years afterwards Pius IX died, and the Conclave met in the Vatican to choose his successor. Its deliberations were short.
[W]e find it once said of an eminent Cardinal, by reaſon of his great and apparent Likelihood to ſtep into St. Peter’s Chair, that in two Conclaves he went in Pope, and came out again Cardinal.
Of the ten Cardinals now forming the Conclave, five voted for Cardinal Geoffredo Castiglione [later Pope Celestine IV], a Milanese, nephew to Urban III, and three for Cardinal Romano [da Porto].

Word Forms

Synonyms for conclave

Depending on context, synonyms include closet.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include conference, meeting, secret, consistory, convocation, convent.

Related Dictionary Tools

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.