triumvirate
See also: Triumvirate
English
[edit]
Coins of the triumvirs, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus, comprising the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.) during the Roman Republic. They bear the inscription iiivir r p c (triumvir rei publicae constituendae—“triumvir for the regulation of the republic”).
Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Learned borrowing from Latin triumvirātus (“triumvirate”) (see -ate (suffix forming nouns denoting offices or ranks)), itself derived from triumvir (“member of a triumvirate”)[1] + -ātus (“-ate”, suffix forming nouns denoting offices or ranks, or groups of officials associated with such offices or ranks); and triumvir from trium (“of three”) (the genitive form of trēs (“three”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + vir (“adult male human, man”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”)). By surface analysis, triumvir + -ate.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/
Audio (Southern England): (file) Audio (General American): (file) - Hyphenation: tri‧um‧vir‧ate
Noun
[edit]triumvirate (plural triumvirates)
- (Ancient Rome, government, historical) A council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such magistrates”), or of the three triumviri.
- 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] The Manner How to Make Birds Silent, and to Leave Their Chattering and Singing. Who First Devised with Fire and Pencill to Enamell and Paint the Arched Roofes and Embowed Seelings of Houses. The Admirable Prices of Pictures, Inserted Here and There among Other Matters..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 546:
- […] I muſt not forget to ſet dovvne a pretie jeſt, vvhich hath been reported by many as touching Lepidus: It happened during the time of his Triumvirat, […]
- c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], page 353, column 2:
- [H]e frets / That Lepidus of the Triumpherate, ſhould be depos'd, / And being that, vve detaine all his Reuenue.
- (by extension)
- (government) Any group of three joint rulers.
- 1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “Captaine Iohn Mansfield His Moneth”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 5th booke, page 181:
- Then vvas contriued a petition, as from the generalitie, vnto the triumuirat Gouernors; vvherein they ſupplicated, that by no meanes they ſhould reſigne the gouernment to any ſhould come from England, vpon vvhat tearmes ſoeuer, vntill ſix moneths after the returne of their ſhip ſent to the VVeſt-Indies: […]
- (figurative) Any group of three people regarded as significant in some way; also (rare), a group of three things; a trio.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trio
- 1642, [Thomas Browne], “[The First Part]”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC, page 36:
- I have therefore alvvayes endevoured to compoſe thoſe fevvds and angry diſſentions betvveene affection, faith, and reaſon. For there is in our ſoule a kind of Triumvirate, or triple government of three competitors, vvhich diſtract the peace of this our Common-vvealth, not leſſe than did that other the State of Rome.
- 1647, I. Denham [i.e., John Denham], “On Mr. John Fletcher’s Workes”, in Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher [et al.], Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], →OCLC:
- VVhen Johnson [Ben Jonson], [William] Shakespeare, and thy ſelfe [John Fletcher] did ſit, / And ſvvay'd in the Triumvirate of vvit— […]
- 1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Upon His Going to the Scots”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 188:
- [T]hat violent and lavvleſs Triumvirate vvithin him, under the falſifi'd names of his Reaſon, Honour, and Conſcience, the old circulating dance of his ſhifts and evaſions.
- 1742 November 3 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Horace Walpole, “Letter LIV”, in Lord Dover [i.e., George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover], editor, Letters of Horace Walpole Earl of Orford, to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley […], published 1833, →OCLC, page 250:
- In the mean time, my Lord of Bath [William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath] and Lord Hervey [John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey], who seem deserted by every body else, are grown the greatest friends in the world at Bath; and to make a complete triumvirate, my Lord Gower [John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower] is always of their party: how they must love each other, the late, the present, and the would-be Privy Seal!
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXVI. Mr. Belford, to Robert Lovelace, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 116:
- O hovv I curſed the cenſoriouſneſs of this plaguy triumvirate! A parſon, a milliner, and a mantua-maker! The tvvo latter, not more by buſineſs led to adorn the perſon, than generally by ſcandal to deſtroy the reputations of thoſe they have a mind to exerciſe their talents upon!
- 1870, James Russell Lowell, “Dryden”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 2:
- [T]he great triumvirate of Italian poetry, good sense, and culture called her [the city of Florence] mother.
- (government) Any group of three joint rulers.
Coordinate terms
[edit]- duumvirate (diumvirate, duovirate) · quattuorvirate (quadrumvirate, quartumvirate, quatrumvirate) · quinquevirate · sextumvirate (sexvirate) · septemvirate · octovirate (uncommon) · novemvirate (uncommon) · decemvirate · undecimvirate (uncommon) · duodecimvirate (uncommon) · quindecimvirate (uncommon) · vigintivirate · centumvirate · quingentumvirate (obsolete, rare)
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit](Ancient Rome) council of three magistrates ruling jointly; any group of three joint rulers
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any group of three people regarded as significant in some way; group of three things — see also trio
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ “triumvirate, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “triumvirate, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]
triumvirate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - triumvirate (ancient Rome) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *tréyes
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *wiHrós
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ate (rank or office)
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weyh₁-
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