principate

[prin-suh-peyt]

noun

supreme power or office.

Origin of principate

1300–50; Middle English < Latin prīncipātus, equivalent to prīncip- (see prince) + -ātus -ate³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for principate

Historical Examples of principate

How, then, is it lawful to incriminate the Principate of the whole Church?
The Formation of Christendom, Volume VI
Thomas W. (Thomas William) Allies
It was useless to demand that a man be proclaimed to the principate if that man be dead.
"Unto Caesar"
Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Under the principate their status underwent a marked decline.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 10
Various
One result of the establishment of the Principate was the consolidation of the public domain.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3
Various
The formal recitation, recitation as a 'function', would seem to be the creation of the Principate.
The Oxford Book of Latin Verse
Various

British Dictionary definitions for principate

principate

noun

a state ruled by a prince
a form of rule in the early Roman Empire in which some republican forms survived

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