optimate

English

Etymology

From Latin optimātēs, masculine plural form of optimās (“best, noblest”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɒptɪmeɪt/

Noun

optimate (plural optimates)

  1. (historical) A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble.
    • 1980, Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer, ch. 12:
      The elaboration of her sateen costume (somewhat dirty and torn now) showed that she was an optimate.
    • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin 2012, p. 23:
      Over the same decade, the upper stratum of Visigothic society, the optimates gradually lost their influence.

Translations

Latin

Noun

optimāte

  1. ablative singular of optimās
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