Decree

How to spell decree

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce decree

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does decree mean?

1. nounAn official order or decision issued by an authority such as a court, monarch, or government.
2. verbTo order or command something officially and with authority.

Decree in a sentence

• noun

  The king issued a decree banning trade with the rival port.

• verb

  The council can decree a curfew during the festival weekend.

• noun

  The court granted the divorce decree after a brief hearing.

• verb

  Local law allows the mayor to decree a public holiday.

Where does decree come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin decretum, meaning 'a thing decided', which was the past participle of the verb decernere, 'to decide' or 'to settle'. That verb was built from de-, here intensifying the action, plus cernere, which literally meant 'to sift' or 'to separate', the same root that gives us 'discern' and 'certain'. The idea was that a ruler sifted through a matter and then separated the right course of action from the wrong, issuing a binding judgement. English took the word in around the 1300s through Old French, where it appeared as decre or decret, and the original final 't' was eventually smoothed away into the modern English spelling decree. The doubled 'e' at the end is what trips writers up, since the word sounds like it could end in a single vowel, but the spelling preserves the long stressed close.

How the word is built

• de- (down, off)
• cree (from Latin cernere: to sift, separate, decide)