primate

Meanings

Plural: primates

Noun

a senior clergyman and dignitary
any placental mammal of the order Primates; has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet
A mammal of the order Primates, including apes (which include humans), monkeys, lemurs, tarsiers, lorisids, and galagos.
A simian anthropoid; an ape (including human) or monkey.
In the Catholic Church, a rare title conferred to or claimed by the sees of certain archbishops, or the highest-ranking bishop of a present or historical, usually political circumscription.
In the Orthodox Church, the presiding bishop of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or region. Usually, the expression primate refers to the first hierarch of an autocephalous or autonomous Orthodox church. Less often, it is used to refer to the ruling bishop of an archdiocese or diocese.
In the Anglican Church, an archbishop, or the highest-ranking bishop of an ecclesiastic province.

Origin / Etymology

First attested in 1876. From French primate, from the substantivization of Latin prīmās, prīmātis (“one of the first, chief, excellent, noble”), same as Etymology 2. So named due to the belief that primates are the highest order of mammals or animals.

Synonyms

archpriest, hierarch, high priest, prelate, primate

Scrabble Score: 11

primate is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
primate is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
primate is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

primate is a valid Words With Friends word