imperator means an emperor. It carries an Arena rating of 1375, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, imperator ranks #333 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,391 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #4,177 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #4,513 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
imperator is pronounced /ˌɪmpəˈreɪtəɹ/.
Why “imperator” is a great word
A supreme military commander, especially the formal title of a Roman emperor. The word is a learned borrowing from Latin imperātor ('commander-in-chief, leader'), from imperāre ('to command, order'), first attested in English in the 1570s–1580s. Unlike 'emperor,' a generalized term for a sovereign ruler, or 'king,' which denotes hereditary rule, imperator carries the specific, gritty authority of acclamation by an army. It is the scrape of a legionary's salute, the chill of a bronze statue overlooking a conquered province, and the single title chanted by ten thousand throats—the moment raw force is translated into enduring law.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin imperātor. By surface analysis, imperate + -or. Doublet of emperor and mpret.
noun
- An emperor.
- The reigning emperor; Male equivalent of Imperatrix
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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