1. Dogmatic utterances of the pope on matters of faith and morals when he is seated on his "holy" throne: spoken with an infallible voice as the successor and representative of St. Peter.

2. When experts speak authoritatively on matters in their fields of knowledge, we may say that they speak ex cathedra or that they have made ex cathedra statements.

3. The term is sometimes applied to the arrogant, positive expressions of the uninformed when they speak as if they were representing some high authority in their dogmatic pronouncements.

Eugene Ehrlich pointed out that before the cathedra was the pope's chair; even before there were popes, it was the chair of a teacher. Based on information from Eugene Ehrlich in his Amo, Amas, Amat and More; Harper & Row, Publishers; New York; 1985.