decree
verb · noun
Simple meaning
The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihkreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪkˈɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To command by a decree.
Issue a decree
noun
law
The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
An edict or law.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
Used this way, decree is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use decree
- “The King decreed that all firstborn males should be killed.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Judicial / determination
Decide
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The amount by which something decreases.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A decree issued on a first petition for divorce.
An agreement between two parties that is sanctioned by the court.
A decree issued by a sovereign ruler.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.