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Ukase Has Russian Roots
English speakers adopted ukase more or less simultaneously from French (ukase) and Russian (ukaz) in the early 18th century. The word can be traced further back to the Russian verb ukazat', meaning "to show" or "to order," and its ultimate source is an ancient root that led to similar words in Latin, Sanskrit, and Old Church Slavic. A Russian ukase was a command from the highest levels of government that could not be disobeyed. But by the early 19th century, English speakers were also using ukase generally for any command that seemed to come from a higher authority, particularly one that was final or arbitrary.
Examples of ukase in a Sentence
Christopher Demuth, WSJ, 12 Nov. 2021
The restrictions that remain from that March 2020 ukase will wind down in February, at Garcetti’s request and with the council’s vote.
—Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2022
To be clear, the Pennsylvania court’s post–November 3 ballot-counting ukase has not been validated.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 3 Nov. 2020
After a brief sitting this week, under Johnson’s ukase, Parliament was not scheduled to meet again until Oct. 14, leaving him with a lot of unaccountable power.
—E.j. Dionne Jr., The Mercury News, 5 Sep. 2019
Trump must have felt quite confident in issuing his ukase.
—Garrett Epps, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Ukase.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ukase. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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