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decree

/dɪˈkɹiː/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,064 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: decrees

A decree is an official order with the force of law. Issue a decree, by royal decree, a decree of the court.

It is law made by one person or body rather than passed by a legislature, which is why rule by decree is a warning sign in politics. In divorce, the decree nisi and the decree absolute are the two stages of an English decree ending a marriage.

Definitions of decree

  1. 1noundecreeAn official order with the force of law.B2+

    “The king issued a decree banning the sale of alcohol on Sundays.”

decree is an order.

Where it comes from

Latin decretum means something decided, from decernere, to decide — de plus cernere, to sift or judge.

  1. Latin

    dēcrētum

  2. Old French

    decré

  3. Middle English

    decre

  4. English, today

    decree

From Middle English decre, decree, from Old French decré (French décret), from Latin dēcrētum.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

decree in the wild

  • Study of the decree was already underway when the first complete translation of the Greek text was published in 1803.

    Rosetta Stone

  • "Orientalium Ecclesiarum" is Latin for "of the Eastern Churches", and is taken from the first line of the decree.

    Orientalium Ecclesiarum

  • Rule by decree is often a key feature of dictatorships.

    Rule by decree

  • Governments often issue decrees in order to bypass the conventional means of making laws.

    Rule by decree

  • The purpose, scope, and origin of the decree are debated.

    Council of Jerusalem

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.