How to Use pontificate in a Sentence

pontificate

1 of 2 verb
  • We had to listen to her pontificate about the best way to raise children.
  • Stick to the facts, do not pontificate about progression of the news or of the virus.
    — Kristin Hostetter, Outside Online, 9 Mar. 2020
  • 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
  • Lawmakers use their time to pontificate as if on the campaign trail.
    — WSJ, 6 Aug. 2021
  • 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
  • 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
  • There’s always someone to pontificate and someone to bless the food before the meals.
    — Beth Thames | [email protected], al, 19 May 2021
  • Journalists pontificate about who has the best chance of winning.
    — The Politics Of Everything, The New Republic, 5 Oct. 2022
  • 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
  • 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
  • The Williams sisters always are willing to pontificate about their greatness around serves and smiles.
    — Terence Moore, Forbes, 2 June 2021
  • 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
  • Indeed, the Abbé pontificates on pretty much every topic known to man as the pair try in vain to tunnel their way to freedom.
    — Jon O'Brien, IndieWire, 19 Mar. 2026
  • An irritating habit of his is to stop by and launch into long-winded stories about some mundane event in his present or past life or to pontificate about a current event.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025
  • This is the mark of a visionary—not waiting for consensus, but creating the future while others pontificate about it.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
  • From a purple-pod terminalia tree a crimson-breasted shrike pontificated at us.
    — AFAR Media, 30 Oct. 2025
  • This wasn’t just a two-time MVP pontificating after a shocking defeat though.
    — Journal Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2023
  • Various characters get their turn to pontificate, but the purest delivery comes from Dutton.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • There is a temptation to expand the view of this ruling, to look at the slippery slope that has been legally greased and pontificate about how this will lead to the further damnation of college sports.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 8 June 2026
  • People from the psychedelic community do tend to pontificate about them.
    — Nick Hilden, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2022
  • 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
  • In typical government style, the announcement was big on pontificating politicians and short on detail.
    — Jack Stewart, WIRED, 9 May 2018
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • That’s especially true for one of its two main narrators, Verity, an aging franchise movie star who acts, thinks, and pontificates like an adolescent.
    — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
  • Fund managers who knew little or nothing about Turkey were pontificating about its macroeconomic weakness, and money was pouring out.
    — James MacKintosh, WSJ, 20 Aug. 2018
  • Rather than the writer pontificating about how Pfleger needs to retire from active priesthood, how about a better use of his time by advocating the notion that pedophile priests should be retired to jail.
    — Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025

pontificate

2 of 2 noun
  • He was elected to the pontificate last year.
  • Now, for the first time in his pontificate, there are zero ex-popes.
    — Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2023
  • Leo signaled from the start of his pontificate that the Opus question was very much on his mind.
    — ABC News, 16 Mar. 2026
  • At age 86, Pope Francis is close to the end of his pontificate.
    — Karim Doumar, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2023
  • Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate.
    — CBS News, 6 June 2026
  • 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
  • The dispute marks the first major challenge of Leo's pontificate.
    — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026
  • His relative youth and apparent good health mean that many in Rome expect a long pontificate.
    — Paul Elie, New Yorker, 8 May 2026
  • 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
  • The prayer marked the highlight of Leo's visit to Turkey and the main reason for his trip, the first of his pontificate.
    — Arkansas Online, 29 Nov. 2025
  • Pope Francis made the washing of the feet one of the most distinctive rituals of his pontificate.
    — Paul Elie, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2026
  • 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
  • Pope Francis never resided there during his pontificate and had the doors sealed after his election.
    — Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Aug. 2025
  • 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
  • Now the historical narrative seems to have changed in light of the Francis pontificate.
    — Massimo Faggioli, Foreign Affairs, 30 Nov. 2018
  • The summer had the feel of a soft opening to Leo’s pontificate, in part because many papal events had been arranged before he was elected.
    — Paul Elie, New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2026
  • There was little doubt that Francis, recorded on camera, made the statements during his pontificate.
    — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2020
  • The move and the consolidation of Leo’s team, suggests a new chapter is opening as his pontificate nears the one-year mark.
    — Nicole Winfield, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2026
  • The playwright doesn’t pontificate, but the juxtaposition of the tales is troubling.
    — Lynn Trenning, charlotteobserver, 8 May 2017
  • 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
  • While in Africa, Leo has seemed at ease and has been speaking in a more impassioned way than previously in his pontificate.
    — Christopher Lamb, CNN Money, 17 Apr. 2026
  • There is no indication from the Vatican that the end of his pontificate is imminent.
    — New York Times, 9 July 2021
  • The most prominent doctrinal question in the current pontificate has been over divorce.
    — Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 13 Mar. 2018
  • The Francis pontificate has moved the Catholic Church further along in this direction.
    — R. R. Reno, Foreign Affairs, 13 Nov. 2018
  • 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
  • The 10th anniversary of his pontificate was earlier this month.
    — Sammy Westfall, Washington Post, 29 Mar. 2023
  • 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
  • The ceremony poses the first major crisis for the American pope, who has stressed the need for church unity since the start of his pontificate.
    — ABC News, 30 June 2026
  • Pope Francis established the council in 2013, the first year of his pontificate.
    — Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2018
  • 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

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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