adj
Meaning 1
Primary; principal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
principate
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈpɹɪns.əˌpeɪt/
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noun
Meaning 2
The early period of the Roman Empire, during which some characteristics of the government of the Roman Republic were retained; the reign of any particular emperor during said period.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ancient-Rome, countable, uncountable
Examples
- 1996, Clare Krojzl (translator), Sebastian Hensel, III: From Diocletian to Alaric [1886, lecture notes], Theodor Mommsen (editor), A History of Rome Under the Emperors, C.H.Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Republished 2005, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), eBook, page 317, The dominate of Diocletian and Constantine differs more sharply from the principate than the latter does from the Republic.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The office of one who is principal or preeminent (such as a prince); the quality or status of being principal; preeminence.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
- 1998, Annabel S. Brett (translator and editor), William of Ockham, On the Power Of Emperors and Popes, Thoemmes Press, page 87, From all this we may draw the conclusion that papal principate was instituted for the utility and advantage of its subjects and not for the honour and glory or the utility and temporal advantage of the holder of the principate, in such a way as that such principate deserves to be called 'of service' and not of 'lordship'.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A state ruled by a prince; a principality.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin prīncipātus, referring to the titles prīnceps senātūs (“first among senators”) and prīnceps cīvitātis (“first among citizens”), adopted by Octavian Caesar Augustus in order to preserve the illusion of formal continuance of some aspects of the Roman Republic.
Across languages
Translations
5 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- French: principat — early period of the Roman Empire
- German: Prinzipat — early period of the Roman Empire
- Italian: principato — early period of the Roman Empire
- Portuguese: principado — early period of the Roman Empire
- Spanish: principado — early period of the Roman Empire