duumvirate

Alternative forms

• duovirate

Etymology

From Latin duumvirātus, from duumviri + -atus (“-ate”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuːˈʌmvɪɹət/

Noun

duumvirate (plural duumvirates)

1. Synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 310:

     To replace the all-powerful Salan, de Gaulle appointed a duumvirate – Paul Delouvrier and General Maurice Challe.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 241:

     This was to raise the prospect of a duumvirate – ‘two heads in the same hat’, as Bernis quaintly put it.

2. (historical) Any of several offices of the Roman Republic held by 2 joint magistrates known as duumvirs.