decemvir

American  

[dih-sem-ver] / dɪˈsɛm vər /

noun

• decemvirs,
  plural
• decemviri
  plural

1. a member of a permanent board or a special commission of ten members in ancient Rome, especially the commission that drew up Rome's first code of law.

2. a member of any council or ruling body of ten.

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decemvir British  

/ dɪˈsɛmvə /

noun

1. (in ancient Rome) a member of a board of ten magistrates, esp either of the two commissions established in 451 and 450 _bc to revise the laws

2. a member of any governing body composed of ten men

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• decemviral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• decemviri
  plural
• decemvirs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of decemvir

1570–80; < Latin, originally plural decemvirī, equivalent to decem ten + virī men

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

decemvir decemviri decemvirs

But the name of the decemvir still carries terror with it, and the commons waver at the sound.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 by Various

Virginius had returned to the camp, where the soldiers, having heard of the fall of the decemvir, proceeded to hit him, as usual, when down, renouncing the authority of Appius and his colleagues.

From The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott ? Becket

Beati sunt mortui: here rest, we know, the priestess Mammia, the decemvir Aricius, Libella the aedile, and a host of other citizens with whose names the student or the lover of Pompeii is familiar.

From The Naples Riviera by Herbert M. (Herbert Millingchamp) Vaughan

Could he be a decemvir, he could also be a consul.

From Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic by Andrew Stephenson

To them the assembly pays attention, they drown with clamour the voice of the decemvir.

From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Titus Livius

The decemviri all perished, either in prison or in banishment.

From Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology For Classical Schools (2nd ed) by Charles K. Dillaway

The books of the decemviri, we must suppose, were burnt with the oracles in 38 B.C.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler

When these things were done, the decemviri sacrificed with the larger victims in the forum at Ardea.

From The History of Rome, Books 09 to 26 by Titus Livius

I do believe, if his story were impartialy transmitted, and the unprejudiced world wel possest with it, she would adde him to her nine worthies, and make up that number a decemviri.

From Characters from 17th Century Histories and Chronicles by Various

Besides decreeing, no doubt with the sanction of the pontifices, certain ordinary measures, the Senate referred the matter to the decemviri and the Sibylline 318books.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler

Ye became weary of decemvirs; we compelled them to resign the office.

From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Titus Livius

These precautions leave us little room to doubt that the Leges Regiæ, and Laws of the Tables, were preserved, and that they remained as they had been originally promulgated by the kings and decemvirs.

From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume II by John Dunlop

But though the decemvirs had been spared from death by fire, they were not forgiven.

From Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Charles Morris

It was resolved that decemvirs should be elected without appeal, and that there should be no other magistrate during that year.

From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Titus Livius

So popular were the decemvirs that another board of ten was appointed for the following year, some of whom, if the extant list of names is correct, were certainly plebeians.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10 "David, St" to "Demidov" by Various