stadtholder
/ˈstætˌhoʊldɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.58 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The chief provincial magistrate, military commander, and, as a member of the House of Orange, highest-ranking noble in the Dutch Republic, who often served as a de facto head of state alongside the States General; the position became hereditary in 1747
noun
An office formerly held by Danish and Swedish officials, best translated as governor-general.
Example Sentences
- "In keeping with the decentralization principe, each province had, in any case, to appoint its own Stadholder, who might not necessarily be the same prince of Orange, or stem from the dynastic trunk. (…) Sovereignty, it was affirmed, lay with the States General, whose bidding the Stadholder was to do as once he had done the king’s."
- "For decades, no stadtholder who would counterbalance the power of the Amsterdam regents had been appointed."
- "Early letters by the Malay rulers are addressed to the “king of Holland” whom they affectionately call their “brother”, in other words as their imagined royal counterpart. In practice such letters were received and read by the stadtholder, the States General, or both."
Etymology
Partial calque of Dutch stadthouder (superseded), stadhouder (literally “placeholder”), from Middle Dutch stathouder, itself a calque of Medieval Latin locum tenēns. Doublet of locum tenens and lieutenant.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈstætˌhoʊldɚ/
- British English: /ˈstædˌhəʊldə/