Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Fasces |
FascesNoun1. Bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade protruding; in ancient Rome it was a symbol of a magistrate's power; in modern Italy it is a symbol of Fascism. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "fasces" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") (in Italian, fascio littorio) was, in ancient Rome, a symbol of power and authority (imperium). It was carried before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank, in public ceremonies and inspections. The rods were used to whip delinquents on the spot. If it included an axe, it represented the power to decapitate. It was carried by heroic soldiers (they had to have been injured in battle) during the triumphs (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest).
It is a sort of cylinder, made of wood branches tied together around an axe. The symbolism of the fasces is that of strength through unity.
In the 1920s it became the symbol of Italian Fascism.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Fasces."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Assemblage | Group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil; set, batch, lot, pack; budget, assortment, bunch; parcel; packet, package; bundle, fascine, fasces, bale; seron, seroon; fagot, wisp, truss, tuft; shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook. |
Scepter | Noun: scepter, regalia, caduceus; Mercury's rod, Mercury's staff, Mercury's wand; rod of empire, mace, fasces, wand; staff, staff of office; baton, truncheon; flag; (insignia); ensign of authority, emblem of authority, badge of authority, insignia of authority. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Fasces |
| English words defined with "fasces": Fascial ♦ Lictor. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "fasces": fisc. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Fasces" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Latin (bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade projecting, fasces). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | "All are gone, the old familiar fasces" / Herblock. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Fasces" is generally used as a lexical verb (-s form) -- approximately 80.00% of the time. "Fasces" is used about 5 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-s form) | 80% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Noun (proper) | 20% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 5 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
fasces | 8 |
fasces roman | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "fasces"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Russian | пучок прутьев ликтора. (various references) | |
Turkish | hakimiyet simgesi, değnekler demeti. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | fasces. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Fasces" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fasc, Fasce, fascets, fasci, fascis, fases, Fauske, fesces, fuscus. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-f-s-s" | |
-1 letter: cafes, cases, faces, safes. | |
-2 letters: aces, cafe, case, cess, face, fess, sacs, safe, seas, secs. | |
-3 letters: ace, ass, efs, ess, fas, sac, sae, sea, sec. | |
-4 letters: ae, as, ef, es, fa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-f-s-s" | |
+2 letters: casefies, faceless, fascines, fiascoes, fracases, surfaces. | |
+3 letters: catfishes, facemasks, fanciness, fascicles, feasances, focalises, forecasts, fricassee, postfaces, scarifies, sclaffers, seacrafts, surfacers. | |
+4 letters: affectless, briefcases, cavefishes, ceasefires, classified, classifier, classifies, coalfishes, craftiness, crawfishes, crayfishes, declassify, disaffects, facileness, facsimiles, fascicules, fascinates, flashcubes, franchises, fricasseed, fricassees, jackfishes, obfuscates, prefascist, reclassify, resurfaces, sacrifices, sanctifies, scarifiers, subsurface, suffocates, transfects, vouchsafes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
