How to Use decree in a Sentence

decree

1 of 2 noun
Definition of decreenext
Synonyms for decreenext
  • Their marriage was annulled by judicial decree.
  • The President issued a decree making the day a national holiday.
  • The decree ordered the armed forces to neutralize the groups.
    — Julia Symmes Cobb and Rosalba O'Brien, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Jan. 2024
  • The birthplace of the Arab revolts, it is now ruled by one-man decree.
    — New York Times, 10 Oct. 2021
  • The decree said nothing about women’s right to study and work.
    — Margherita Stancati, WSJ, 15 Dec. 2021
  • The rules, the sainted Laws, decree that once a game has restarted, it cannot be stopped.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The decree was issued on the day that Italy won an important match in the World Cup.
    — Alexander Stille, The New Republic, 4 Apr. 2023
  • At least one artist felt forced to respond to Ben Gvir’s decree.
    — Abeer Salman, CNN, 25 Jan. 2023
  • Both decrees said the three churches would merge to form a single parish.
    — Ted Slowik, Daily Southtown, 12 June 2019
  • This, though, was a death decree, and Rushdie became a hunted man.
    — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2022
  • Sanalla rejected the decree at the time and called on the council to revoke it.
    — Salma El Wardany, Bloomberg.com, 10 May 2017
  • The few Black businesses near the water were forced out by city decree.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2021
  • There was no trial, just a decree, signed in the judge’s shaky cursive, on the grounds of abandonment.
    — April White, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 May 2022
  • Craxi flew back from a state visit in the U.K. and passed a special decree putting Berlusconi’s networks back on the air.
    — Alexander Stille, The New Republic, 13 June 2023
  • First came the fiat – the decree of the form legal tender would take (coins, bullion, etc.).
    — Robert Hockett, Forbes, 4 July 2021
  • The stone, according to the Greek inscription, was a decree.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 29 Dec. 2022
  • As a result of the decrees, many Moroccan Jews lost their jobs.
    — Theo Zenou, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Mar. 2024
  • The decree is to keep his eyes below the offensive lineman.
    — John Shinn Diehards, ajc, 15 Nov. 2017
  • The addition of the a state bat and mushroom aren’t the only new decrees or laws that took effect on New Year’s Day.
    — Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 3 Jan. 2024
  • Now, their divorce decree has come through, and Gail is filled with regret.
    — David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Jan. 2018
  • Netflix has issued a decree about The Crown's take on real-life events.
    — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Abbas, who has ruled by decree for over a decade, denies this.
    — NBC News, 11 Dec. 2021
  • Plants do best in the conditions that nature decrees for them.
    — Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2023
  • Quaintly state to yourself, as if to God, a formal decree.
    — Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 30 July 2020
  • All the Sikhs—royalty or commoner, rich or poor—have been abiding by the decree of the takhat.
    — Sondeep Sankar, Quartz India, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Their divorce decree was mailed on April 25 — two days after she was killed.
    — David Gambacorta, Philly.com, 30 Apr. 2018
  • Since early last year, Moïse had been ruling by decree.
    — Tamanisha John, The Conversation, 7 July 2021
  • But officials there and elsewhere caution that decrees are just one tool not, not a cure-all.
    — Andrew Wolfson, The Courier-Journal, 9 Mar. 2023
  • In a culture that already faces the scourge of honor killings, such decrees seem likely to increase the prevalence of domestic violence.
    — Lisa Curtis, Foreign Affairs, 28 Mar. 2024
  • The latter is the surest sign that Argentina’s economy is already dollarized, no decrees or laws needed.
    — John Tamny, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
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decree

2 of 2 verb
  • The change was decreed by the President.
  • The City Council has decreed that all dogs must be kept on a leash.
  • The government decreed a national holiday.
  • Ballard’s decrees about this team not being about one man, about Luck, will be put to the test now and in the future.
    — Jim Ayello, Indianapolis Star, 25 Aug. 2019
  • Snow's set was filled with the kind of moves that once made TV censors decree that Elvis be shown only from the waist up.
    — Christopher Spata Tampa Bay Times (tns), Arkansas Online, 17 July 2023
  • The act decreed that whites were not allowed to buy land from Natives, and vice versa.
    — oregonlive, 26 Apr. 2020
  • Taft, maybe, or Buddy LaRosa – decreed that there was something magical about the 4th game of the year.
    — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The demographics of the mentee pool are shaped by the fact that NIH has decreed the program must be open to all comers.
    — Jeffrey Mervis, Science | AAAS, 24 Oct. 2017
  • Then the king abruptly decreed that women would be allowed to drive next year, ending a decades-long ban.
    — The Economist, 5 Nov. 2017
  • Labels must be fixed, or so decree the TV debate shows.
    — Evan Grant, Dallas News, 25 Nov. 2020
  • The Academy liked the no-pressure results and decreed no need for an official host for the second year in a row.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2020
  • In 2016, a federal judge ruled against Rauner, decreeing that the governor didn't have standing in the case.
    — Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader, 17 Oct. 2017
  • Early Roman laws decreed that no tombs could exist within the city walls, so the highways leading up to the city were lined with tombs.
    — Christopher Parker, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2023
  • So far, Taliban mullahs have yet to decree what shape and form art and culture will be permitted to exist in the new Afghanistan.
    — Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2021
  • In another change to church law this year, Francis decreed that victims cannot be silenced, and have the right to learn the outcomes of their cases.
    — Nicole Winfield, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Dec. 2019
  • The country’s ruler has decreed that women don’t need their guardian’s approval to get their licenses.
    — Margaret Coker, New York Times, 23 June 2018
  • Around the same time, San Clemente founder Ole Hanson decreed his entire community would be built that way.
    — Steve Carney, latimes.com, 28 Apr. 2018
  • At one point, Newton decreed that Agee could nurse David for only seven minutes per breast.
    — Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 14 June 2023
  • Correct form decreed that they were never worn at hotels.
    — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 25 Jan. 2018
  • His girlfriend, who eventually became his wife, decreed: Leave the gang, or I'm gone.
    — Peter Nickeas, chicagotribune.com, 28 Apr. 2017
  • Current rules decree that Brunellos must age in barrel for two years and at least four months in bottle, which is quite a short minimum.
    — John Mariani, Forbes, 7 May 2021
  • In 1992, the Interstate Commerce Commission sided with the business group and decreed that the tracks had to be demolished.
    — The Economist, 24 Jan. 2020
  • Parliament announced a new measure, decreeing that her child—regardless of gender—was the next heir to the British throne.
    — Elise Taylor, Vogue, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Our laws of physics clearly decree that the big bang ought to have created equal parts matter and antimatter.
    — Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Spooked, Pharaoh decreed that all male babies be murdered, which is why Moses was hidden in a basket among the Nile’s bulrushes, to protect him.
    — Menachem Wecker, National Review, 1 Nov. 2017
  • Lycurgus, the founder of the Spartan regime, is said to have decreed that only iron bars would be accepted as currency.
    — Nick Burns, The New Republic, 7 Aug. 2019
  • The perpetrators were protected by a blanket amnesty decreed in 1993 as part of a peace accord.
    — The Economist, 29 June 2019
  • If anything, the gilets jaunes protests showed that public policy cannot be decreed from on high, and Mr Macron claims that he has heard and understood this message.
    — The Economist, 15 June 2019
  • Tricked by the Magi, the wise men whom Herod had sent to determine where the infant was, a raging Herod decreed that all children 2 and under who live near Bethlehem are to be killed.
    — Aaron Gale, Discover Magazine, 18 Dec. 2023
  • This past year, Lula decreed several new Indigenous territories, one nearly the size of Delaware for 249 people.
    — Terrence McCoy, Washington Post, 2 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decree.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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