duumvirate

• diumvirate, duovirate

From Latin duumvirātus, from duumvir +‎ -ātus. Equivalent to duumvir +‎ -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, here the group of people involved with it).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /djuːˈʌmvɪɹət/

duumvirate (plural duumvirates)

1. Synonym of diarchy: rule by two people, especially two men.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 310:

     To replace the all-powerful Salan, de Gaulle appointed a duumvirate – Paul Delouvrier and General Maurice Challe.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 241:

     This was to raise the prospect of a duumvirate – ‘two heads in the same hat’, as Bernis quaintly put it.

2. (historical) Any of several offices of the Roman Republic held by two joint magistrates known as duumvirs.

• duumvir
• duumviral