Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Government by triumvirs.
  • noun The office or term of a triumvir.
  • noun A body or group of triumvirs.
  • noun An association or a group of three.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The office or magistracy of a triumvir, specifically of one of the ancient Roman groups of triumviri.
  • noun Government by three men in coalition.
  • noun A group of three men in office or authority; specifically, in Roman history, either the coalition (First Triumvirate) between Pompey, Julius Cæsar, and Crassus, 60 b. c., which controlled the Roman world for several years, or that (Second Triumvirate) between Mark Antony, Octavian (Augustus), and Lepidus, 43 b. c., which overthrew the republican party and ordered the second proscription.
  • noun A party of three men; three men or three personifications in company or forming one group; also, a trio or triad of any kind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Government by three in coalition or association; the term of such a government.
  • noun A coalition or association of three in office or authority; especially, the union of three men who obtained the government of the Roman empire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A group or association of three, especially three statesmen.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a group of three men responsible for public administration or civil authority

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin triumvirātus, from triumvirī, board of three; see triumvir.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin triumvīrātus.

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Examples

  • It meant opening with what he calls the triumvirate of fine dining - dress code, doorman and valet parking.

    SFGate: Top News Stories jhu@sfchronicle.com (Janny Hu 2011

  • It meant opening with what he calls the triumvirate of fine dining - dress code, doorman and valet parking.

    SFGate: Top News Stories jhu@sfchronicle.com (Janny Hu 2011

  • The other component of the coping triumvirate is the dreaded rationality, the bad-tasting hard-work and planning component.

    Trick or treat! Tom Toles 2010

  • The fifth, a nano-tech zombie novel called Biohell, containing your favourite Combat-K psychotic triumvirate, is due out November 2008.

    INTERVIEW: Andy Remic 2008

  • The fifth, a nano-tech zombie novel called Biohell, containing your favourite Combat-K psychotic triumvirate, is due out November 2008.

    January 2008 2008

  • The third member of the Microsoft online triumvirate is Brian McAndrews, the former chief executive of aQuantive, the advertising company Microsoft bought last year.

    Will Microsoft’s Executive Shuffle Scare Yahoo? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • The third member of the Microsoft online triumvirate is Brian McAndrews, the former chief executive of aQuantive, the advertising company Microsoft bought last year.

    Will Microsoft’s Executive Shuffle Scare Yahoo? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • But it was the major label triumvirate of 1991's "Girlfriend," 1993's "Altered Beast," and 1995's "100% Fun" that Mr. Sweet became one of the landmark alternative acts of the era.

    Ex-Bangle Meets Mr. Jangle 2009

  • But letting more men be consul removes the glare from a long-term triumvirate.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

  • But letting more men be consul removes the glare from a long-term triumvirate.

    Antony and Cleopatra Colleen McCullough 2007

Comments

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  • As defined by Homer Simpson: Three guys giving orders.

    November 6, 2008