How to Use pontificate in a Sentence
- We had to listen to her pontificate about the best way to raise children.
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Stick to the facts, do not pontificate about progression of the news or of the virus.
—Kristin Hostetter, Outside Online, 9 Mar. 2020
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Don’t pontificate to Afro-Latinx who don’t get it and don’t want to get it.
—Roberto Carlos Garcia, The Root, 11 Jan. 2018
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As a player, Ewing was never the type to pontificate or preen, to dwell on much more than the moment at hand.
—Harvey Araton, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2018
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There’s always someone to pontificate and someone to bless the food before the meals.
—Beth Thames | Bethmthames@gmail.com, al, 19 May 2021
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What's a three-letter word that prompts parents to pontificate and teens to plug their ears when their parents bring it up?
—David Oliver, USA TODAY, 5 Aug. 2021
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But after losing her job, she’s found a space to pontificate on fashion trends that works on her own terms.
—Frances Solá-Santiago, refinery29.com, 26 June 2021
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Lawmakers use their time to pontificate as if on the campaign trail.
—WSJ, 6 Aug. 2021
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The Williams sisters always are willing to pontificate about their greatness around serves and smiles.
—Terence Moore, Forbes, 2 June 2021
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You’re not just some person pontificating on startups, of which there are many.
—Eric Johnson, Recode, 20 Aug. 2018
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This is not a book to be a stickler about; that would be like pontificating about microbrews instead of just getting drunk.
—Virginia Heffernan, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2016
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Journalists pontificate about who has the best chance of winning.
—The Politics Of Everything, The New Republic, 5 Oct. 2022
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But this time, rather than the dull and pontificating sister of Austen’s work, Hadlow’s Mary perseveres.
—Joan Gaylord, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Apr. 2020
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The idea of men sitting around on all these networks pontificating on a woman's dress, why aren't women talking about veils and dresses?
—Fox News, 22 May 2018
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This wasn’t just a two-time MVP pontificating after a shocking defeat though.
—Journal Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2023
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After the drone visit, John settles in at a harborside pub in the town of Skerries for a Guinness and to pontificate about another cause close to the brothers: climate.
—Alex Konrad, Forbes, 26 May 2022
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Cooper is in the middle of pontificating about danger and protecting the world and whatnot, when an actual Skype call appears on the big screen.
—Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 1 May 2023
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Someone who for some un-godly reason does get paid to pontificate on politics, her name is Miss Ana Navarro tweeted at me.
—Fox News, 28 Apr. 2018
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Take, for instance, progressive darling Lena Dunham, the sometimes actress and screenwriter who appears to spend the bulk of her time pontificating on the Left’s petissues.
—Alexandra Desanctis, National Review, 13 July 2017
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Where a Virgo gets personally involved, an Aquarius might observe from afar and pontificate on how to make something better.
—Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2023
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Various characters get their turn to pontificate, but the purest delivery comes from Dutton.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2023
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For years, Elon Musk has used Twitter to provoke, pontificate and go on the offensive against criticism and perceived threats from rivals, regulators, and regular folks.
—Tim Higgins, WSJ, 15 Dec. 2022
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Earnings calls, where top execs pontificate about their economic outlook, have been moving markets more than earnings-per-share and revenue reports.
—Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 30 Jan. 2023
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Or, conversely, some people may want to engage in a little showmanship, grandstanding and pontificating for the camera.
—Benny L. Kass, chicagotribune.com, 6 Sep. 2017
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In typical government style, the announcement was big on pontificating politicians and short on detail.
—Jack Stewart, WIRED, 9 May 2018
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Mike pontificated about the government’s fire hose of free money, explained the mysteries of Vegas dice tables and daydreamed about his fantasy baseball team having a big finish.
—Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 28 May 2023
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Many analysts see Francis’ pontificate as the restoration of engagement with the modern world after three decades of leadership by conservative popes.
—BostonGlobe.com, 16 July 2021
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This suggests that an AI app can pontificate on a topic without necessarily having to extensively be pre-trained on that topic.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2022
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And McKinsey doesn't pontificate on who should foot the bill; whether its government subsidies, corporate taxes, or consumer wallets.
—Eamon Barrett, Fortune, 26 Jan. 2022
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People from the psychedelic community do tend to pontificate about them.
—Nick Hilden, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2022
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At age 86, Pope Francis is close to the end of his pontificate.
—Karim Doumar, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2023
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Now, for the first time in his pontificate, there are zero ex-popes.
—Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2023
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The pope, who on Monday hits the 10-year mark in his pontificate, shows the potential of life at 86 in the modern world.
—Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2023
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His defense of a Chilean bishop accused of covering up abuse led to one of the biggest crises of his pontificate in 2018.
—Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 30 Jan. 2020
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This year marks the eighth Christmas of the 84-year-old Francis’ pontificate, Reuters reported.
—Dom Calicchio, Fox News, 25 Dec. 2020
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Pope Francis established the council in 2013, the first year of his pontificate.
—Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2018
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The trip had a slower pace than others during Francis’s pontificate — with two events most days rather than four or five.
—Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 30 July 2022
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Among the topics addressed by the pope during the trip was the question of the suffering of immigrants, which has been a main focus of this pontificate.
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Mar. 2021
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The large increase in the number of electors could raise speculation that the pope could be preparing for the end of his pontificate.
—Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 9 July 2023
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His pontificate, which lasted eight years, was a muted coda to John Paul’s.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2023
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Catholics have watched and listened to him for weeks, as the pandemic has put both the Pope and the habits of their faith to a test—but also made the central themes of his pontificate especially apt.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2020
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In 2015, early in Francis' pontificate, he was named bishop of San Diego.
—David Crary, ajc, 29 May 2022
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In 2015, early in Francis’ pontificate, he was named bishop of San Diego.
—Kate Morrissey, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 May 2022
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For Francis, 85, the war has become a second epochal event, after the pandemic, that has come to define the agenda of his pontificate.
—BostonGlobe.com, 20 May 2022
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Cardinal Becciu seemed a prelate on the rise in the Francis pontificate, often traveling with the pope.
—Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2020
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But whether the endpoint comes in a matter of months or a couple of years is anybody’s guess, and this pontificate has been typified by its surprises.
—Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 7 June 2022
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As John Paul reached the end of his pontificate in 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger ordered a review of the pending cases in his department.
—Erika Solomon, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2023
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Three months ago, Pope Francis was at the low point of his five-year pontificate in terms of public image and credibility.
—Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 21 May 2018
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Pope Francis traveled to the hilltop town of his namesake for the fifth time in his pontificate on Friday to honor the poorest and most marginal and urge that they be welcomed and cared for by the church.
—Fox News, 12 Nov. 2021
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Then, barely a month later, his pontificate was over — the shortest reign since the early 1600s — and the Catholic world was left to make sense of the inexplicability.
—Washington Post, 7 Dec. 2021
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The playwright doesn’t pontificate, but the juxtaposition of the tales is troubling.
—Lynn Trenning, charlotteobserver, 8 May 2017
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Months into his pontificate, Francis decreed that even Holy See diplomats stationed abroad could face trial in the city-state’s courts.
—Washington Post, 15 Oct. 2021
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If the pope knew of that dossier and nevertheless empowered the cardinal to represent and influence the church world-wide for five years, the future of this pontificate is in the gravest doubt.
—Robert P. George, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2018
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As a result, this is the first major gathering of cardinals since 2019, a time when the endpoint of Francis’s pontificate seemed a far more distant notion.
—Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2022
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The day’s ceremonies will begin with Benedict’s body being placed in a cypress coffin, along with coins and medals from his pontificate and a text describing his eight years leading the church.
—Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2023
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There is no indication from the Vatican that the end of his pontificate is imminent.
—New York Times, 9 July 2021
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Real-life critics of the real-life pope whisper that his pontificate can be rigid and unforgiving.
—Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2017
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John Paul was in the first bloom of his pontificate, and his image as a young, strong, independent-minded world citizen had been burnished by a visit to New York the previous fall.
—Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2021
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If Pope Francis can toss away the hermeneutic of continuity, on what basis can defenders of this pontificate oblige me to remain faithful to it?
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 15 Sep. 2021
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History's first Latin American pope has made the plight of migrants a priority of his 10-year pontificate, traveling to Lampedusa in his first trip as pope to honor migrants who drowned.
—Nicole Winfield and Sylvie Corbet The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 23 Sep. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pontificate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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