Duodecimate

//ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪmət// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Synonym of duodecimvirate: a group of twelve. no-plural, rare

    "We affirm, that to all eternity the apostles are to be twelve, among all the redeemed, a conspicuous, glorious, unassociated duodecimate."

Verb
  1. 1
    To kill one twelfth of a group of people, especially by lot. rare

    "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."

  2. 2
    To divide into twelfths; to divide duodecimally. rare

    "He has duodecimated his difficulties by choosing twelve boy “heroes.”"

Synonyms

All synonyms
duodecimvirate

Example

More examples

"We affirm, that to all eternity the apostles are to be twelve, among all the redeemed, a conspicuous, glorious, unassociated duodecimate."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.