Word
ides
UK/ˈaɪdz/
Plural noun
Definition
n. the middle day of a month in the old Roman calendar. You see it today almost only in the phrase for March 15, a famous date in Roman history.
n. the middle day of a month in the ancient Roman calendar, falling on the 15th in long months and the 13th in short months. Survives in modern English chiefly in the fixed phrase for March 15.
Examples
“The ides mark the middle of the month.”
“In the old calendar, the ides of the third month fall on the fifteenth day.”
“While modern readers link the ides with bad luck, people in old times treated them as a routine date for settling debts.”
Examples
simple
“The ides mark the middle of the month.”
contextual
“In the old calendar, the ides of the third month fall on the fifteenth day.”
complex
“While modern readers link the ides with bad luck, people in old times treated them as a routine date for settling debts.”
Collocations
Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “ides” in context.
Verb
01. beware ides
“Beware the ides of March, the soothsayer tells Caesar in the play.”
verb + noun
02. dread ides
“Caesar claimed he did not dread the ides despite the warnings.”
verb + noun
03. ides approach
“The ides approach, yet Caesar refuses to stay away from the Senate.”
noun + verb
04. ides fall
“The ides fall on the 15th of March in the Roman calendar.”
noun + verb
Adjective
05. fateful ides
“Shakespeare dramatized the fateful ides as a day of betrayal and murder.”
adj + noun
06. ominous ides
“The soothsayer's warning gave the ominous ides a lasting literary power.”
adj + noun
Noun
07. ides of march
“Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC.”
noun + prep + noun
08. assassinated on the ides
“Caesar was assassinated on the Ides by conspirators led by Brutus.”
09. beware the ides of march
“Beware the Ides of March remains one of Shakespeare's most quoted warnings.”
10. meet fate on the ides
“Caesar met his fate on the Ides, betrayed by men he trusted.”
Usage
Plural in form and takes a plural verb; almost always appears as 'the ides of' plus a month.
Etymology
From Middle English ides, idus, from Anglo-Norman and Old French ides, from Latin īdūs, a fourth-declension plurale tantum, from the Latin practice of treating most recurring calendrical days as plurals. The Latin term is cognate with Oscan eiduis, both perhaps deriving from an unknown Etruscan term. Middle English and Old French also used the singular form ide.
See ide.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Related words
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.C2 ProficiencyIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.8.5–9.0TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 6.0114–120
- Frequency
- Occasional
- Level
- C2 · Proficiency
- Updated
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