There might be a few other definitions of cathedral (e.g., a church used as the seat of some other high church official, church designated as the main one in a diocese even if not used by a bishop, or a church that was designated as a cathedral at one time), but the definition you mentioned is the main one.Rex Kramer wrote:(It's still possible for both this and SotH to be right, if SotH was using "cathedral" in the narrow sense of "building that is the seat of a bishop" -- which the Basilica is not.
It's also used loosely to refer to any big, impressive church (some of which have "Cathedral" in their names) or any big, impressive, solemn building (e.g., the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning) - but since the reference was to a Catholic cathedral, that doesn't fit.