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Definition of vatican city
vatican city
vatican city Lexical Profile
CEFR
B1
Grade
6
Tier
2
Usage
Top 10k
• noun
1
An independent sovereign city-state enclaved within Rome, Italy, which serves as the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope.
Example
"Every year, millions of pilgrims and tourists travel to Vatican City to see St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel."
Synonyms
View all synonyms for vatican cityWord Origin & Etymology
Named after the Vatican Hill (Mons Vaticanus in Latin), on which it is located, and combined with 'city' to denote its independent municipal status. It became an independent sovereign state from Italy through the Lateran Treaty in 1929.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.
180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
Cite this Entry
Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Vatican city. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Oct 13, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/vatican city