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Edicts are few and far between in a democracy, since very few important laws can be made by a president or prime minister acting alone. But when a crisis arose in the Roman Republic, the senate would appoint a dictator, who would have the power to rule by edict. The idea was that the dictator could make decisions quickly, issuing his edicts faster than the senate could act. When the crisis was over, the edicts were canceled and the dictator usually retired from public life. Things are different today: dictators almost always install themselves in power, and they never give it up.
Examples of edict in a Sentence
Mandy Taheri
gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 July 2025
Folt arrived in 2019 in the aftermath of the Varsity Blues scandal — as well as several other scandals — with an edict to clean up the university.
—Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2025
In 1990, Disney’s Head of Distribution, Richard Cook, made an edict that the studio would no longer allow commercials to run before any Disney, Hollywood Pictures, or Touchstone theatrical release.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 July 2025
Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, ordering the execution of political prisoners, including large numbers of Kurdish dissidents.
—Shukriya Bradost, The Conversation, 28 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Edict.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edict. Accessed 24 Jul. 2025.
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edict
noun
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