quindecimvirate means A group of fifteen people, especially (politics) a council of fifteen men sharing office or rule, particularly such groups of magistrates in ancient Rome. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
QUINDECIMVIRATE — [Noun] A governing body of fifteen men, particularly the priestly colleges of ancient Rome entrusted with sacred rites and Sibylline oracles. From Latin quīndecimvirātus, from quīndecimvirī ("a group of fifteen men") + -ātus ("-ate, denoting office or collective body"). Unlike a "decemvirate" (austere in its decimal symmetry) or a "triumvirate" (lean, conspiratorial in its odd-numbered balance), the quindecimvirate sprawls—a cumbersome democracy of robes and ritual. Imagine fifteen figures in sacrificial white lifting a single bull’s entrails to the augurs, fifteen wax tablets tallying temple expenditures, fifteen voices debating whether a thunderclap was Jupiter’s warning or mere weather. Power, divided so finely, becomes indistinguishable from tedium.
noun
- A group of fifteen people, especially (politics) a council of fifteen men sharing office or rule, particularly such groups of magistrates in ancient Rome.