Other forms: pontificates, pontificating
To pontificate is to speak as if your opinion settled the matter. Pontificate about politics, stop pontificating, pontificate at length.
It is always a complaint, and the complaint is about the manner rather than the view. As a noun it means the period of a pope's reign, which is where the tone comes from.
1verbpontificateTo speak as if your opinion settled everything.
“He would pontificate about the economy to anybody who stayed still.”
pontificate is a speaking.
Latin pontificatus comes from pontifex, high priest, literally bridge-maker, from pons, a bridge, plus facere, to make.
Latin
pontificatus
English, today
pontificate
Built from
From Latin pontificatus, from pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA