the holy see

1. 1.

   the smallest sovereign state in the world; the see of the Pope (as the Bishop of Rome); home of the Pope and the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church; achieved independence from Italy in 1929

   SynonymsHoly SeeState of the Vatican City

   BroaderEuropean countrysee

   Part ofRome

   PartsVatican City

Questions about the holy see

What does the holy see mean?

the holy see means "the smallest sovereign state in the world; the see of the Pope (as the Bishop of Rome); home of the Pope and the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church; achieved independence from Italy in 1929".

What is another word for the holy see?

Close synonyms include Holy See, State of the Vatican City. 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 the holy see a common word?

the holy see 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.