Definition of "priorate" [pri•or•ate]

• The dignity, office, or government of a prior. (noun)

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• "His election to the priorate was the most important event in Dante's public life."
• "The era of the Counter-Reform coincided with the priorate of Giovan Battista Capponi 1588-1613."
• "The execution of the Bull was confided to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, by whom (4 June, 1876) the entire province of Ciudad Real was made a bishopric-priorate of the Military Orders, and for all canonical purposes constituted a territory vere et proprie nullius di cesis, i.e. exempt from all neighbouring jurisdiction."