principate

== English == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin prīncipātus, referring to the titles prīnceps senātūs (“first among senators”) and prīnceps cīvitātis (“first among citizens”), adopted by Octavian Caesar Augustus in order to preserve the illusion of formal continuance of some aspects of the Roman Republic. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈpɹɪns.əˌpeɪt/ === Noun === principate (countable and uncountable, plural principates) (Ancient Rome) The early period of the Roman Empire, during which some characteristics of the government of the Roman Republic were retained; the reign of any particular emperor during said period. Coordinate term: dominate 1996, Clare Krojzl (translator), Sebastian Hensel, III: From Diocletian to Alaric [1886, lecture notes], Theodor Mommsen (editor), A History of Rome Under the Emperors, C.H.Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Republished 2005, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), eBook, page 317, The dominate of Diocletian and Constantine differs more sharply from the principate than the latter does from the Republic. The office of one who is principal or preeminent (such as a prince); the quality or status of being principal; preeminence. 1998, Annabel S. Brett (translator and editor), William of Ockham, On the Power Of Emperors and Popes, Thoemmes Press, page 87, From all this we may draw the conclusion that papal principate was instituted for the utility and advantage of its subjects and not for the honour and glory or the utility and temporal advantage of the holder of the principate, in such a way as that such principate deserves to be called 'of service' and not of 'lordship'. A state ruled by a prince; a principality. ==== Usage notes ==== (early period of the Roman Empire): Taken to extend from the beginning of Augustus' reign to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century: i.e., from 27 BCE—284 CE. The end corresponds to the beginning of the reign of Diocletian, whose reforms included a move to a more explicitly autocratic style. ==== Synonyms ==== (office of a preeminent person): princedom (quality of being principal): primacy, principality (state ruled by a prince): princedom, principality ==== Related terms ==== princeps ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === principate (not comparable) Primary; principal. == Spanish == === Verb === principate second-person singular voseo imperative of principar combined with te