Definition of "optimates" [‖Op•ti•ma•tes]

• Plural form of optimate. (noun)

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• "Those who favored the interests of the Senate were called optimates, and sometimes procĕres or principes."
• "Antony to the cause of the "optimates" after the Philippies, he would have availed himself of it."
• "Cicero was of the fourth class, believing in the Republic, intent on saving it, imbued amid all his doubts with a conviction that if the "optimates" or "boni" -- the leading men of the party -- would be true to themselves,"