decemvir
Americannoun
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decemvirs,
plural
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decemviri
plural
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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.
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a member of any council or ruling body of ten.
noun
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(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
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a member of any governing body composed of ten men
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of decemvir
1570–80; < Latin, originally plural decemvirī, equivalent to decem ten + virī men
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Could he be a decemvir, he could also be a consul.
From Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic by Andrew Stephenson
They were attentively listened to by the assembly: the voice of the decemvir was drowned with clamour.
From Roman History, Books I-III by Titus Livius
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 fact of his presiding at the meeting should have been a bar to his being elected a decemvir.
From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Titus Livius
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
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
Did the Romans tamely submit to the tyranny of the decemviri?
The "decemviri" were to have plenary power for ten years.
From The Life of Cicero Volume One by Anthony Trollope
When so much land would be thrown into the market it would be sold very cheap and would be sold to those whom the "decemviri" might choose to favor.
From The Life of Cicero Volume One by Anthony Trollope
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 provocatio was to the people, whilst the intercessio referred to the decemvirs against a colleague.
From The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Titus Livius
The people and soldiers rallied around the courageous soldier, took the capitol, and compelled the decemvirs to lay down their office.
From Ancient States and Empires by John Lord
But the tyranny of the decemvirs was directed against the wives and daughters as well as the men of the plebeians, as was now to be strikingly shown.
From Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Charles Morris
The games which had been vowed by the decemvirs, in pursuance of a decree of the senate on occasion of the secession of the commons from the patricians, were performed this 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
