Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • A specific calendar system introduced during the French Revolution. It was the official civil calendar of France from late 1793 to 1805. Its epoch (year 1) began on the date of the proclamation of the French Republic, September 22, 1792. It featured months with new names based on nature and was a decimal system, dividing months into 3 weeks of 10 days each.

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • The Revolutionary Calendar was created to break from the Christian Gregorian calendar.
  • Historical documents from that era are often dated according to the Revolutionary Calendar.
  • He studied the structure of the Revolutionary Calendar, including months like Vendémiaire and Brumaire.

Advanced Usage

• Referring to its ideological purpose: The calendar is often discussed as a symbol of the revolutionary attempt to dechristianize and rationalize time.
  • The implementation of the Revolutionary Calendar was part of a broader campaign to create a new, secular society.
• In historical dating: Used to specify dates within its period of use, often with the month name and the "Year of the Republic."
  • The law was passed on 13 Vendémiaire, Year III of the Revolutionary Calendar.

Variants and Related Words

• French Republican Calendar: A synonymous term for the Revolutionary Calendar.
• Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse, Germinal, Floréal, Prairial, Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor: The names of the twelve months in the Revolutionary Calendar.
• Décade: The ten-day week used in the Revolutionary Calendar, replacing the seven-day week.

Synonyms

• French Republican Calendar

Related Terms (Not Phrasal Verbs or Idioms)

• Gregorian Calendar: The calendar system it replaced and was later replaced by.
• Decimal Time: A related, but separate, revolutionary reform that divided the day into 10 hours, each of 100 minutes.

Noun

1. the calendar adopted by the first French Republic in 1793 and abandoned in 1805; dates were calculated from Sept. 22, 1792