praetorship


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Related to praetorship: Urban praetor, Praetor Peregrinus

prae·tor

also pre·tor  (prē′tər)
n.
An annually elected magistrate of the ancient Roman Republic, ranking below but having approximately the same functions as a consul.

[Middle English pretor, from Old French, from Latin praetor, perhaps from praeīre, to go before : prae-, pre- + īre, to go; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

prae·to′ri·al (prē-tôr′ē-əl) adj.
prae′tor·ship′ n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.praetorship - the office of praetor
berth, billet, post, situation, position, office, place, spot - a job in an organization; "he occupied a post in the treasury"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
When the Praetorship was created in 367 BC, the jurisdiction assigned to the Praetor formed part of the Consular Imperium--the jurisdiction, to decide civil disputes.
About a century later, a second praetorship was created.
(17) Vespasian's praetorship followed in AD 40, his election coming among the top candidates.
Then Iullus Antonius, who had been an unparalleled example of Augustus's clemency [singulare exemplum clementiae], only to become the violator of his household [violator eius domus] himself, avenged he crime he had committed; after the defeat of his father Augustus had not only granted safety to Iullus, but also had him honored with a priesthood, the praetorship, the consulship, and the governance of provinces and received him in the closest bond of relationship through a marriage with the daughter of his sister ...
As an individual aged he could expect to hold increasingly senior posts: the quaestorship at twenty-seven, praetorship in his late thirties and the consulship at forty-two.
[The praetorship was once an office of great power, now it is an empty name and a heavy burden on the resources of the Senatorial order.
So Ammianus, in emphasizing the arcane skill of the aleator, remarks on how badly the gambler takes it when his malign friendships go wrong and produce social snubs -- "you would think it was Cato not getting elected to the praetorship".(134)