Dictionary

duodecimate en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmət/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• dyo͞o'ōdĕʹsĭmət (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Latin duodecimatus, from duodecim (“twelve”) + -ātus (“-ate”).

Meanings

1. (no-plural, rare) Synonym of duodecimvirate: a group of twelve.
   • We affirm, that to all eternity the apostles are to be twelve, among all the redeemed, a conspicuous, glorious, unassociated duodecimate. 1851, Matthew LaRue Perrine Thompson, The Church, Its Ministry and Worship, page 95:
   • There was there impanelled to serve as jurors [a] duodecimate of “impartial and unwitting persons”. 1924, The Pharmaceutical Era, LIX, page 565:

Synonyms

duodecimvirate

duodecimate en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmeɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• dyo͞o'ōdĕʹsĭmāt (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Either from the Latin duodecimō (“to take one twelfth”) or an alteration of the Latin duodecimus (“twelfth”) by analogy with decimate.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:attested in the past participle only, rare) To kill one twelfth of a group of people, especially by lot.
   • The barbarians were duodecimated — i.e., one out of every twelve was beheaded. 1974, Jean d’Ormesson, The Glory of the Empire, page 298:
   • The French squadron…opened fire at a distance far beyond the range of our rifles, and the carnage in our ranks was fearful. We were being gradually duodecimated. 1868, Sydney Punch, VIII, page 93:
   • If they had duodecimated a legion…rather than…decimate them…, two [fewer] guys per unit would have had to be killed. 2009, Tom McMorrow, Having Fun With Words of Wit and Wisdom, page 75:
2. (qualifier:attested in the past participle only, rare) To divide into twelfths; to divide duodecimally.
   • He has duodecimated his difficulties by choosing twelve boy “heroes.” 1899, Current Literature, XXV, page 116:
   • Already [Sir James Frazer] has epitomized, and so to speak, duodecimated, the Golden Bough, while Lady Frazer has culled a florilegium from his works. 1928, Sir John Collings Squire, Rolfe Arnold Scott-James, The London Mercury, XVIII, page 446:

Forms

Coordinates

decimate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part) · centesimate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part) · tertiate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part) · septimate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part) · quintate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part) · sextate (reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part)