decree

[dih-kree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR decree ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a formal and authoritative order, especially one having the force of law: a presidential decree.

Law. a judicial decision or order.

Theology. one of the eternal purposes of God, by which events are foreordained.

verb (used with or without object), de·creed, de·cree·ing.

to command, ordain, or decide by decree.

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

Related formspre·de·cree, verb (used with object), pre·de·creed, pre·de·cree·ing.un·de·creed, adjectivewell-de·creed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for decree

edict, statute, instruction, directive, announcement, proclamation, injunction, rule, regulation, ruling, act, law, judgment, order, impose, dictate, declare, enact, proclaim, commandment

Examples from the Web for decree

Contemporary Examples of decree

Just two weeks later, the Sultan issued his decree that shariah, Islamic law, would be the new law of the land.
Brunei Returns to the Stoning Age
Jay Michaelson
April 22, 2014
Justice Anthony Kennedy has more power than any president or justice in history to decree the law of the land.
Will This Man Make Gay Marriage Legal Everywhere?
Stuart Taylor, Jr.
February 22, 2014
A 2010 decree took it a step further: they will be stricken with a “crime against sacraments.”
What About Women, Pope Francis?
Janine di Giovanni
August 1, 2013
And it is not for all of the time, all or nothing, as the Yahoo decree implied.
Yahoo’s Work-From-Home Ban a Bigger Blow to Men
Ellen Galinsky
March 4, 2013
The tensions here arise from the notion that democracies decide to go to war as nations, not by dint of decree.
Let's Debate An Iran Attack
Ali Gharib
October 1, 2012

Historical Examples of decree

But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and flame.
Viviette
William J. Locke
It seemed more than a decree of chance that their fates should be intertwined.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
There he was, and there was the decree; he had been taken in France, and his head was demanded.
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
It was nothing that the decree bore date since his return to France.
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
History is the final tribunal which will decree to everyone what he has deserved.
Freeland
Theodor Hertzka

British Dictionary definitions for decree

decree

noun

an edict, law, etc, made by someone in authority

an order or judgment of a court made after hearing a suit, esp in matrimonial proceedingsSee decree nisi, decree absolute

verb decrees, decreeing or decreed

to order, adjudge, or ordain by decree

Derived Formsdecreeable, adjectivedecreer, noun

Word Origin for decree

C14: from Old French decre, from Latin dēcrētum ordinance, from dēcrētus decided, past participle of dēcernere to determine; see decern

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for decree

early 14c., from Old French decre, variant of decret (12c., Modern French décret), from Latin decretum, neuter of decretus, past participle of decernere "to decree, decide, pronounce a decision," from de- (see de-) + cernere "to separate" (see crisis).

late 14c., from decree (n.). Related: Decreed; decreeing.