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Webster 1913 Edition

Adj.

[L.

optimas

-atis

, adj.,

optimates

, n. pl., the adherents of the best men, the aristocrats, fr.

optimus

the best.]

Of or pertaining to the nobility or aristocracy.

[R.]

–

Noun.

A nobleman or aristocrat; a chief man in a state or city.

[R.]

Chapman.

optimate ‎(plural optimates)

(historical) A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble.
- 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin 2012, p. 23:
  Over the same decade, the upper stratum of Visigothic society, the optimatesgradually lost their influence.

member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome

optimāte