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tractate

[trak-teyt]
See more synonyms for tractate on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a treatise; essay.
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Origin of tractate

1425–75; late Middle English < Medieval Latin tractātus, Latin: handling, treatment, equivalent to tractā(re) to handle, treat (frequentative of trahere to draw) + -tus suffix of v. action
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for tractate

Historical Examples

  • Then there is a commentary on the "Cantica of Avicenna," and a tractate on the "Theriac."

    Old-Time Makers of Medicine

    James J. Walsh

  • The tractate, De Erroribus Philosophorum, is attributed to him.

  • The Mishnic tractate Sabbath stands at the head of twelve tractates on festivals.

    Flowers of Freethought

    George W. Foote

  • Hippocrates, in the tractate on "Ancient Medicine," has a splendid paragraph on the attitude of mind towards the men of the past.

  • The tractate is described as a very elaborate and learned compilation from the Fathers upon the sanctity of the Sabbath.

    East Anglia

    J. Ewing Ritchie

British Dictionary definitions for tractate

tractate

noun
  1. a short tract; treatise
  2. Judaism one of the volumes of the Talmud
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Word Origin

C15: from Latin tractātus, from tractāre to handle; see tractable
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