décréter

From décret.

• IPA^(key): /de.kʁe.te/

• Audio:

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décréter

1. to order, decree
   • 2008, Le français moderne, volumes 76-7, page 87:

     Qui utilise encore, sauf ironiquement, l’imparfait du subjonctif ? Le français bouge , et va bouger encore, n’en déplaise au seul organisme d’État au monde (que je sache) qui décrète comment les gens doivent parler, donc penser : l’Académie Française.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. to declare (a state of emergency)

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written décréter-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written décrèter-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

• “décréter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.