The saying goes that the HRE is not Holy, not Roman and not an Empire. Is it accurate to say that it was not an empire? How do historians define "Empire", and how does the HRE fall short from that definition?
Here's a past thread on the topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4lzgo9/whats_behind_the_joke_the_holy_roman_empire_was/