decretal

English

Etymology

From Middle French decretal, from Late Latin dēcrētālis, from Latin decretum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈkɹiːtəɫ/
• Hyphenation: de‧cre‧tal

Adjective

decretal (comparative more decretal, superlative most decretal)

1. Pertaining to a decree.
   • Chase v. Turner, 560 So. 2d 1317, 1320 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990):

     [T]his finding, when read in conjunction with the other findings, as well as decretal portions of the final judgment, is more logically interpreted as a reference to the successful operation of the business […]

Derived terms

• decretalism
• decretalist
• postdecretal

 

Translations

pertaining to a decree

• Dutch: decretaal (nl)

Noun

decretal (plural decretals)

1. (Roman Catholicism) A papal decree, particularly one derived from an ecclesiastical letter.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 130–135:

     Or els is thys Goddis law,
     Decrees or decretals,
     Or holy sinodals,
     Or els provincyals,
     Thus within the wals
     Of holy church to deale […]?

   • 1878, "Decretals" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. VII, p. 22:

     DECRETALS... are the answers sent by the Pope to applications made to him as head of the church, chiefly by bishops, but also by synods, and even private individuals, for guidance in cases involving points of doctrine or discipline... From the 4th century onwards they formed the most prolific source of canon law. Decretals... ought, properly speaking, to be distinguished, on the one hand from constitutions... enacted by the Pope sua sponte without reference to any particular case, and on the other hand from rescripts... which apply only to special circumstances or individuals, and constitute no general precedent. But this nomenclature is not strictly observed.

2. (now rare) Any decree or pronounced instruction.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     […] picturals / Of Magistrates, of courts, of tribunals, / Of commen wealthes, of states, of pollicy, / Of lawes, of iudgements, and of decretals […]

Related terms

• decree
• decretory

Translations

papal decree

• Finnish: dekretaali (fi)
• Polish: dekret (pl)

Anagrams

• clareted, treacled

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin dēcrētālis.

Adjective

decretal m or f (masculine and feminine plural decretales)

1. decretal

Further reading

• “decretal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10