Nomothete

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A lawgiver; a legislator.

    "He proposed a bicameral legislature divided into elected legislators tasked with everyday business of state, who he called “telothetes,” and another set of legislators called “nomothetes” of ages forty to fifty-five elected by their peers to fifteen-year terms."

  2. 2
    A name giver.

    "Clearly we are in the presence of a motif, common to other religions and mythologies — that of the Nomothete, the name-giver, the creator of language"

Example

More examples

"He proposed a bicameral legislature divided into elected legislators tasked with everyday business of state, who he called “telothetes,” and another set of legislators called “nomothetes” of ages forty to fifty-five elected by their peers to fifteen-year terms."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νομοθέτης (nomothétēs, “law-giver”).

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