bishop

bishop — noun

1. a senior Christian minister who oversees the churches and clergy across a city,

1.nounB2
Definition

a senior Christian minister who oversees the churches and clergy across a city, region, or diocese, and who can ordain new priests.

Example

The bishop of Canterbury visited our small village church last Sunday morning.

the bishop of [place]

Bishop Garcia ordained six new priests at the cathedral in Manila yesterday.

Bishop + [Name] as title before a person's name

Common collocations
  • appoint a bishop
  • consecrate a bishop
  • the local bishop
Synonyms
  • prelate

    formal term for any high-ranking Christian minister

  • archbishop

    a bishop of even higher rank, in charge of other bishops

Grammar Patterns

the bishop of [place]

Bishop [Name]

Usage Note

Capitalised as a title before a name (Bishop Tutu) but lowercase as a common noun (the bishop spoke). Subject is usually a man, though some Protestant churches now ordain women bishops.

Common Mistakes

A bishop teaches a single church on Sunday.
A bishop oversees many churches in a region.
a bishop is senior to a parish priest and supervises many churches, not one.
I met bishop Tutu in Cape Town.
I met Bishop Tutu in Cape Town.
capitalise Bishop when used as a title before a name.

2. in chess, one of two tall pieces on each side, shaped like a pointed church hat,

2.nounB2
Definition

in chess, one of two tall pieces on each side, shaped like a pointed church hat, that travels diagonally across squares of one colour for as far as the path is clear.

Example

Bram slid her white bishop across the board and captured Daniel's queen in one move.

subject + bishop captures + [piece]

In chess, the bishop can only move along squares of the same colour.

the bishop moves diagonally on one colour

Common collocations
  • move the bishop
  • lose a bishop
  • trade bishops
  • sacrifice the bishop
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

move the bishop

the bishop takes [piece]

Usage Note

Each player begins with two bishops, one on a light square and one on a dark square; each stays on its starting colour for the whole game. Often paired with 'knight' when discussing trades of equal-value pieces.

Common Mistakes

I moved my bishop straight forward to take the pawn.
I moved my bishop diagonally to take the pawn.
bishops only travel diagonally, never in straight lines.
Her bishop jumped over the knight.
Her knight jumped over the bishop.
bishops cannot jump pieces; only knights can.

Word family

  • bishopric
    nounC2
  • archbishop
    nounC1
  • episcopal
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name Christian ministers, but they sit at different levels and serve different traditions. A priest leads a single parish or local church and handles weekly services, weddings, and confessions. A bishop is senior to many priests, oversees the churches across a city or region, and has the authority to ordain new clergy. An archbishop ranks above bishops and supervises a wider church area, sometimes a whole country. Pastor is a broader, less formal label common in Protestant churches for the leader of one congregation, with no built-in rank above other clergy. So if Father Lin is promoted to oversee fifty churches in northern Taiwan, he becomes a bishop; if he later leads all the bishops on the island, he becomes an archbishop.

bishop ↗priest ↗archbishoppastor ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • bishop's hat
  • bishop's robe
  • bishop's ring

Phrases

  • appoint a bishop
  • consecrate a bishop
  • Bishop [Name]

Prepositions

  • bishop of [place]
  • bishop in [denomination]

Etymology

GreekLate LatinOld EnglishEnglish

The word travelled into English from Old English 'biscop', which came in turn from Late Latin 'episcopus' and originally from the Greek 'episkopos', meaning 'overseer' or 'one who watches over' — formed from 'epi-' (over) plus 'skopos' (watcher). Early Christian communities borrowed the Greek term for the church leader who supervised a group of congregations, and the word was reshaped by each language it passed through, losing its first syllable in English. The chess sense is much later: the diagonally-moving piece was renamed 'bishop' in English around the 16th century because its tall, split-topped shape reminded players of a bishop's pointed ceremonial hat (the mitre).