decree

From Middle English decre, decree, from Old French decré (French décret), from Latin dēcrētum.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɹiː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

decree (plural decrees)

1. An edict or law.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 2:1:

     There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, ">…], →OCLC:

     Poor hand, why quiverest thou at this decree?

2. (law) The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
3. (law) The determination of a cause in a court of admiralty or court of probate.
4. (religion) A predetermination made by God; an act of providence.

decree (third-person singular simple present decrees, present participle decreeing, simple past and past participle decreed)

1. To command by a decree.

   A court decrees a restoration of property.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Job 22:28:

     Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.

   • 1797, S T Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: John Murray, , by William Bulmer and Co. , published 1816, →OCLC, page 55:

     In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.

   • 2022 November 8, Pete Wells, “Restaurant Review: Why Does This Tibetan Kitchen Also Cook Sichuan Food?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-08, Food‎:

     The Nhasangs themselves are from Ngaba, which is in the Amdo region of northeastern Tibetan, a cultural borderland where Tibetan and Sichuan traditions meet. China has decreed that Ngaba is within Sichuan Province.

• recede

decree

1. Alternative form of decre