decemvirate means A group of ten people, especially (politics) a council of ten men sharing office or power and particularly (historical) the groups of ten men who reformed and codified Roman law circa 450 BCE. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 77 out of 100.
Why this word is great
DECEMVIRATE — [Noun] A governing body or council of ten men, especially the commissions that codified Roman law in the 5th century BCE. From the Latin decemviratus, from decemvir ("one of ten men") + -atus (suffix forming nouns of office or rank), itself from decem ("ten") + vir ("man"). Unlike a triumvirate—a compact of three, sharp and unstable—or a council—a diffuse and general term—a decemvirate carries the specific, weighty cadence of collective, decimal authority. It is the scrape of ten bronze styluses etching the Twelve Tables into stone, the ten magistrates seated in a perfect, unnerving line upon the tribunal bench, and the oppressive quiet of a republic that has temporarily traded its many voices for the consolidated judgment of a few. It is the perilous dream of efficiency, where order is achieved by reducing the human equation.
noun
- A group of ten people, especially (politics) a council of ten men sharing office or power and particularly (historical) the groups of ten men who reformed and codified Roman law circa 450 BCE.