Word.ws English Dictionary

duumvirate

UK/djuːˈʌmvɪɹət/

duumvirate noun: synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.

Noun

duumvirate (plural duumvirates)

  1. Synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.
    • To replace the all-powerful Salan, de Gaulle appointed a duumvirate – Paul Delouvrier and General Maurice Challe.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 310
    • This was to raise the prospect of a duumvirate – ‘two heads in the same hat’, as Bernis quaintly put it.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 241
    Synonyms:
    diarchy
  2. (historical) Any of several offices of the Roman Republic held by two joint magistrates known as duumvirs.

Synonyms of duumvirate

Forms of duumvirate

pluralduumvirates
alternative formdiumvirate
alternative formduovirate

Origin of duumvirate

From Latin duumvirātus, from duumvir + -ātus. Equivalent to duumvir + -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, here the group of people involved with it).

Questions about duumvirate

What does duumvirate mean?
Duumvirate means synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.
What part of speech is duumvirate?
Duumvirate is a noun.
How do you pronounce duumvirate?
Duumvirate is pronounced /djuːˈʌmvɪɹət/ (UK).
What is the plural of duumvirate?
The plural of duumvirate is duumvirates.

Words near duumvirate in the dictionary

  1. dutyman
  2. dutymen
  3. Dutys
  4. duumvir
  5. duumviral
  6. duumvirate
  7. duumvirates
  8. duumviri
  9. duumvirs
  10. duuumb
  11. DUV

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: duumvirate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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