| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| decemvir |
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| SYLLABICATION: | de·cem·vir |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d -s m v r |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. de·cem·virs or de·cem·vi·ri (-v-r  )
1. One of a body of ten Roman magistrates, especially a member of one of two such bodies appointed in 451 and 450 b.c. to draw up a code of laws. 2. One of an authoritative body of ten. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin, sing. of decemvir, commission of ten men : decem, ten; see dek in Appendix I + vir, pl. of vir, man; see w-ro- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | de·cemvi·ral —ADJECTIVE
de·cemvi·rate (-vr-t, -v-r t) —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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