From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprelateprel‧ate /ˈprelət/ noun [countable] RRCa bishop, cardinal, or other important priest in the Christian church
Examples from the Corpus
prelate• Primates and prelates exercised political power most effectively when they were moving in support of magnate opposition; against united barons they were impotent.• The newly elected prelate still needed ecclesiastical consecration before he could exercise his pastoral functions.• In these years he was frequently a proctor for prelates and religious institutions in Parliament.• The court of Gascony, composed of prelates and barons, was to be consulted to this end.• The immediate impact of this event was to dissuade other prelates from publicly defending the king.• Much of the blame for the schism is generally attributed to Nikon, the overbearing prelate elevated to the Patriarchate in 1652.• The prelates were concerned, as explicit statements show, primarily to defend the church's liberties.• The line of the living began with prelates in grand clothes, the Pope leading.Origin prelate (1200-1300) Old French Medieval Latin praelatus “someone preferred, someone given a job”, from the past participle of Latin praeferre; → PREFER 