diadem
/ˈdaɪ.əˌdɛm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.39 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An ornamental headband worn as a badge of royalty.
noun
A crown.
noun
Regal power; sovereignty; empire—considered as symbolized by the crown.
Example Sentences
- "The Apollon wing of the Louvre has a set of historic crowns, diadems and sovereign jewellery."
- "And vvhen the princely Perſean Diadem, / Shall ouervveigh his vvearie vvitleſſe head, / And fall like mellovved fruit, vvith ſhakes of death, / In faire Perſea noble Tamburlain / Shall be my Regent, and remaine as King:"
- "I am his firſt borne ſonne, that vvas the laſt / That vvare the Imperiall Diademe of Rome, […]"
- "The fever’d diadem on my brow / I claim’d and won usurpingly— / Hath not the same fierce heirdom given / Rome to the Caesar—this to me?"
- "The star of her destiny is the morning star of the new-born century. O’er the Golden Gate it glitters, diademming this youthful Queen of the Pacific in her robes of freedom gorgeously inlaid with gold."
- "Paul cites as an example the Macedonian churches and mentions specifically several things about their liberality which adorn their grace and crown it with beauty as the lily work diademmed the pillars of the Temple."
Etymology
From Middle English diademe, dyademe, from Old French diademe, from Latin diadēma, from Ancient Greek διάδημα (diádēma, “band, especially worn around a tiara”), from διαδέω (diadéō, “bind around”).