papal bull

1. 1.

   a formal proclamation issued by the pope (usually written in antiquated characters and sealed with a leaden bulla)

   Synonymsbull

   Broaderdecree

Questions about papal bull

What does papal bull mean?

papal bull means "a formal proclamation issued by the pope (usually written in antiquated characters and sealed with a leaden bulla)".

What is another word for papal bull?

Close synonyms include bull. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is papal bull a common word?

papal bull is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.