duumvirate

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin duumvirātus, from duumviri + -atus (-ate).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /djuːˈʌmvɪɹət/

Noun

duumvirate (plural duumvirates)

  1. Synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.
    • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 310:
      To replace the all-powerful Salan, de Gaulle appointed a duumvirate – Paul Delouvrier and General Maurice Challe.
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 241:
      This was to raise the prospect of a duumvirate – ‘two heads in the same hat’, as Bernis quaintly put it.
  2. (historical) Any of several offices of the Roman Republic held by two joint magistrates known as duumvirs.

Translations

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