duumvirate

English

Alternative forms

• duovirate

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin duumvirātus, from duumviri + -atus (“-ate”).

Pronunciation

• 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.

Related terms

• duumvir
• duumviral

Translations

Roman offices

• Danish: duumvirat n
• Dutch: duümviraat n
• French: duumvirat (fr) m
• German: Duumvirat n
• Italian: duunvirato m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: duumvirat n

• Portuguese: duunvirato m