decree
Americannoun
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a formal and authoritative order, especially one having the force of law.
a presidential decree.
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Law. a judicial decision or order.
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Theology. one of the eternal purposes of God, by which events are foreordained.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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an edict, law, etc, made by someone in authority
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an order or judgment of a court made after hearing a suit, esp in matrimonial proceedings See decree nisi decree absolute
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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decreesimple
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decreessimple
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have decreedperfect
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has decreedperfect
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am decreeingprogressive
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are decreeingprogressive
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is decreeingprogressive
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have been decreeingperfect progressive
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has been decreeingperfect progressive
Past
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decreedsimple
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had decreedperfect
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was decreeingprogressive
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were decreeingprogressive
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had been decreeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decree
1275–1325; (noun) Middle English decre < Anglo-French decre, decret < Latin dēcrētum, noun use of neuter of dēcrētus, past participle of dēcernere; see decern; (v.) Middle English decreen, derivative of the noun
Explanation
Look carefully! A decree isn't something you get when you graduate. That one little letter change makes it something else altogether: a legally binding command or the announcement of such a thing. If you go back far enough, a decree referred to a decision handed down by the Roman emperor. In more modern usage, a divorce decree is the document issued by a court that terminates a marriage. And if you want to go out with someone on a date, but things keep preventing you from having the chance to ask, you could say that fate did not decree it to be so.
Vocabulary lists containing decree
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Animal Farm
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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.
First, does either a federal consent decree that Arizona entered into 2018 or a federal law, the National Voter Registration Act, prevent Arizona from rejecting voter registrations when voters don’t produce documentary proof of citizenship?
From Slate • Jun. 29, 2026
Did Gordon Granger, an otherwise obscure Union Army general, really stroll into Galveston and read a decree from Abraham Lincoln declaring, to a sea of onlookers, that all enslaved people were now officially free?
From Salon • Jun. 19, 2026
The scandal led to prosecutions and convictions of some officers, and a federal consent decree that mandated reforms.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
But the decree included the exact grid coordinates for the square, which borders Putin’s official residence inside the Kremlin.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
But five of the chieftains who had marched with him to Thebes lay unburied, and according to Creon’s decree would be left so forever.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
