Mandate of Heaven
Any such mandate or blessingAny such mandate or blessing.
Meaning
3 sensesAny such mandate or blessing.
The Chinese philosophical concept of the circumstances under which a ruler is allowed to rule. Good rulers would be allowed to rule with the Mandate of Heaven, and despotic, unjust rulers would have the Mandate revoked by disasters or revolution.
(figuratively, humorous, often)The preeminence of an incumbent or institution other than that of the rulers of China.
Translations
1 languagesOrigin
Calque of Literary Chinese 天命 (tiānmìng).Calque of Literary Chinese 天命 (tiānmìng).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: Mandates of Heaven| Singular | Mandate of Heaven |
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| Plural | Mandates of Heaven |
irregular · Lesson
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.