lustrum means A lustration: a ceremonial purification of the people of Rome performed every five years after the census. It carries an Arena rating of 1675, earned across 94 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lustrum ranks #977 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,569 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #3,338 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #4,286 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
lustrum is pronounced /ˈlʌstɹəm/.
Why “lustrum” is a great word
LUSTRUM — [Noun] A period of five years, originally denoting the ceremonial purification of the Roman people performed after each census. From Latin lūstrum ("purificatory sacrifice, ceremony of purification; a period of five years"), of uncertain ultimate origin, first attested in English in the 1580s. Unlike a "quinquennium," a neutral chronological span, or a "decade," a different, longer measure, a lustrum is a cycle freighted with ritual gravity and collective accounting. It is the scent of incense and sacrifice drifting across the Campus Martius, the quiet rustle of the censor's scroll being sealed, and the silent, five-year march of a polity awaiting its next cleansing—a measure of time not by stars, but by the necessary, recurring work of becoming a people again.
Etymology
From Latin lūstrum.
noun
- A lustration: a ceremonial purification of the people of Rome performed every five years after the census.
- Synonym of quinquennium: Any 5-year period.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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