English

Alternative forms

• duodecemvirate (slightly more common)

Noun

duodecimvirate

1. (very rare, Greek and Roman antiquities) The position or function of duodecimviri or of a duodecimvir.
   • 1789, William Williams, Primitive History, from the Creation to Cadmus, page 482

     Strabo ſeems to ſay, there were fronting theſe halls, (which Diodorus likewiſe ſeems to diſtinguiſh from the labyrinth, ſtyling it the work of the Duodecimvirate) 27 other halls.

   • 1996, Michael Peachin, Iudex vice Caesaris, page 135

     It would appear that the duodecimvirate was held after the praetorship, but before the consulate.

2. (very rare) A council, or similar governing body, of twelve people; a duodecimate.
   • 1948, The Contemporary Review CLXXIV, page 184

     It is essential to [Stalin] and to his duodecimvirate that open war shall be avoided or postponed for as long as possible.

   • 1984, Diane Duane, My Enemy, My Ally, page 22

     The Tricameron…comprised…a “Senate”…and a “Praetorate,” a sort of quadruple troika or duodecimvirate: twelve men and women who implemented the Senate’s decrees, declared war or peace, and…spent most of the time squabbling amongst themselves for power.

   • 2008, Michael Somers, Galactic Exodus, page 73

     The logs of each member of the covert duodecimvirate displayed identical readouts.