Meanings
- Ancient Romeno pluralrareThe class of plebeians or common citizens.
In the old life of the pagus and the gens, the weaker sought protection of the stronger by a willing vassalage, which ripened, when the state was formed, into the Plebeiate which had its origin in clientship.
1901, Abel Greenidge, Roman Public Life, pages 5–62 more examples
Those writers, on the other hand, who take a more aristocratic view of early institutions, and consider the ceorls as an essentially inferior class, would look upon "commendation" as their original and necessary condition. The Roman plebeiate is of course an argument for the latter view.
1870, William Francis Allen, “Review of The History of the Norman Conquest of England”, in The North American Review, volume 110, number 227, page 355I propose that this ordo was a stratified and competitive hierarchy, a network with multiple interacting and context-specific hierarchies (clan, patriciate, plebeiate, age, sexual status, social position, sacerdotal public office, wealth etc.) […]
2019, Lewis Webb, “Mihi es aemula: Elite Female Status Competition in Mid-Republican Rome and the Example of Tertia Aemilia”, in Eris vs. Aemulatio: Valuing Competition in Classical Antiquity, page 258Synonyms: plebs · Antonyms: patriciate
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From plebeian + -ate (forms noun denoting rank or office, a body of people involved with it).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
plebeiate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plebeiate
“plebeiate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plebeiate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “plebeiate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plebeiate.
Source: plebeiate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.