praetorian
/pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/
praetorian adjective: of or pertaining to a praetor. Also the alternative letter-case form of Praetorian.
Adjective
praetorian (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to a praetor.
- Of or pertaining to the pretorium in an ancient Roman camp.
- The praetorian gate was directly in front of the general's tent, and nearest to the enemy.
- Of or pertaining to the special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors.
- praetorian guard
- Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply. Her satraps became watchful, like a Praetorian guard.2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4
- Corruptly mercenary and venal.
Noun (1)
praetorian (plural praetorians)
- A praetor; a person of praetorian rank.
- I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the wealthiest Prætorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the world’s); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 108, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
- A venal mercenary.
- The Trump praetorians who initially denied there was any effort to pressure the Ukrainians into action on a Biden probe, possibly including the withholding of congressionally approved military aid, suddenly surfaced a new talking point: “They’re trying to turn what was a Biden scandal into a Trump...2019 September 23, Jonah Goldberg, “Column: The most noxious part of Ukraine-Biden whistleblower affair is Team Trump thinks we’re all idiots”, in Los Angeles Times
Noun (2) capitalized: Praetorian
Praetorian (plural Praetorians)
Also used as
praetorian is also the alternative letter-case form of Praetorian.
Forms of praetorian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | pretorian |
| alternative form | prætorian |
| Noun | |
| plural | praetorians |
| plural | Praetorians |
| alternative form | praetorian |
| alternative form | Pretorian |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Prætorian |
Origin of praetorian
From Middle English pretorian, from Latin praetōriānus.
Words formed from praetorian
- praetorian band
- praetorian guard: the bodyguard of the emperor in Ancient Rome
- praetorianism
Questions about praetorian
- What does praetorian mean?
- Praetorian means of or pertaining to a praetor.
- What part of speech is praetorian?
- Praetorian can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce praetorian?
- Praetorian is pronounced /pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/.
Words near praetorian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: praetorian (page history and authors); Praetorian (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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Cite this entry: “praetorian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/praetorian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.