senate

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Related to senate: congress, House of Representatives

sen·ate

(sĕn′ĭt)

1. Abbr. Sen. An assembly or a council of citizens having the highest deliberative and legislative functions in a government, specifically:

a. Senate The upper house of the US Congress, to which two members are elected from each state by popular vote for a six-year term.

b. often Senate The upper house in the bicameral legislature of many states in the United States.

c. Senate The upper legislative house in Canada, France, and some other countries.

d. The supreme council of state of the ancient Roman Republic and later of the Roman Empire.

2. The building or hall in which such a council or assembly meets.

3. A governing, advisory, or disciplinary body of some colleges and universities composed of faculty members and sometimes student representatives.

[Middle English senat, from Old French, from Latin senātus, from senex, sen-, old, an elder; see sen- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

senate

(ˈsɛnɪt)

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) any legislative or governing body considered to resemble a Senate

2. (Education) the main governing body at some colleges and universities

[C13: from Latin senātus council of the elders, from senex an old man]

Senate

(ˈsɛnɪt)

n (sometimes not capital)

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the upper chamber of the legislatures of the US, Canada, Australia, and many other countries

2. (Historical Terms) the legislative council of ancient Rome. Originally the council of the kings, the Senate became the highest legislative, judicial, and religious authority in republican Rome

3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the legislative council of ancient Rome. Originally the council of the kings, the Senate became the highest legislative, judicial, and religious authority in republican Rome

4. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the ruling body of certain free cities in medieval and modern Europe

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sen•ate

(ˈsɛn ɪt)

n.

1. an assembly or council having the highest deliberative functions in a government, esp. a legislative assembly.

2. (cap.) the upper house of the U.S. Congress or of a state legislature.

3. (cap.) the upper house of the legislature of other countries, as France and Canada.

4. the room or building in which such a group meets.

5. the supreme council of state of ancient Rome, the membership and functions of which varied at different periods.

6. a governing, advisory, or disciplinary body, as at some universities.

[1175–1225; Middle English senat < Latin senātus=sen(ex) old, old man + -ātus -ate³]

Senate

an assembly or Council of citizens; a body of the elders, 1586; the governing body of a nation, state or university.

Examples: the senate of the Gods is met, 1821; the senate of the heart, 1540.

senate

The Roman assembly of heads of patrician families. It held the supreme administrative authority, even under the empire.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	senate - assembly possessing high legislative powers U.S. Senate, United States Senate, US Senate, Senate - the upper house of the United States Congress law-makers, legislative assembly, legislative body, legislature, general assembly - persons who make or amend or repeal laws
	2.	Senate - the upper house of the United States Congress U.S. Senate, United States Senate, US Senate senate - assembly possessing high legislative powers Congress, U.S. Congress, United States Congress, US Congress - the legislature of the United States government

Translations

مَجْلِس الشُّيوخ

senát

senat

senaatti

szenátus

öldungadeild, efri deildöldungaráî

senato senato accademico Senatore consiglio accademico

senatus

senatas

senāts

akademisk kollegium senat

senado

сенат

senát

senat

senato

上议院参议院古罗马元老院

senate

[ˈsenɪt] N

1. (Pol) → senado m
the Senate (US) → el Senado CABINET, CONGRESS

2. (Univ) → consejo m universitario

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

senate

[ˈsɛnət]

(= part of government) → sénat m
the Senate → le Sénat

[university] → conseil m

modif [investigation, inquiry, hearings] → sénatorial(e); [leader] → du Sénat; [majority] → sénatorial(e); [approval, confirmation, resolution] → du Sénat senate bill, senate committeesenate bill n → rapport m du Sénatsenate committee n → commission f sénatoriale

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

senate

n → Senat m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

senate

[ˈsɛnɪt] n (Pol) → senato (Univ) → senato accademico

senate

(ˈsenət) noun

1. a lawmaking body, especially the upper house of the parliament in some countries.

2. in ancient Rome, the chief legislative and administrative body.

ˈsenator noun

1. (sometimes abbreviated to Sen. in titles) a member of a lawmaking senate. Senator Smith.

2. a member of a Roman senate.

References in classic literature ?

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

View in context

The Senate, like the present Congress, and the Senate of Maryland, derives its appointment indirectly from the people.

The Senate, on the other hand, will derive its powers from the States, as political and coequal societies; and these will be represented on the principle of equality in the Senate, as they now are in the existing Congress.

View in context

This doctor therefore proposed, "that upon the meeting of the senate, certain physicians should attend it the three first days of their sitting, and at the close of each day's debate feel the pulses of every senator; after which, having maturely considered and consulted upon the nature of the several maladies, and the methods of cure, they should on the fourth day return to the senate house, attended by their apothecaries stored with proper medicines; and before the members sat, administer to each of them lenitives, aperitives, abstersives, corrosives, restringents, palliatives, laxatives, cephalalgics, icterics, apophlegmatics, acoustics, as their several cases required; and, according as these medicines should operate, repeat, alter, or omit them, at the next meeting."

These papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify a privy council; a flock of geese, a senate; a lame dog, an invader; the plague, a standing army; a buzzard, a prime minister; the gout, a high priest; a gibbet, a secretary of state; a chamber pot, a committee of grandees; a sieve, a court lady; a broom, a revolution; a mouse-trap, an employment; a bottomless pit, a treasury; a sink, a court; a cap and bells, a favourite; a broken reed, a court of justice; an empty tun, a general; a running sore, the administration.

View in context

For this he was upbraided in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the corrupter of the Roman soldiery.

View in context

The French entered the gates and began pitching their camp in the Senate Square.

A town built of wood, where scarcely a day passes without conflagrations when the house owners are in residence and a police force is present, cannot help burning when its inhabitants have left it and it is occupied by soldiers who smoke pipes, make campfires of the Senate chairs in the Senate Square, and cook themselves meals twice a day.

View in context

For when Caesar would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill presages, and specially a dream of Calpurnia; this man lifted him gently by the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss the senate, till his wife had dreamt a better dream.

View in context

The institution of the kosmoi , was still worse than that of the ephori: for it contained all the faults incident to that magistracy and some peculiar to itself; for in both cases it is uncertain who will be elected: but the Lacedae-monians have this advantage which the others have not, that as all are eligible, the whole community have a share in the highest honours, and therefore all desire to preserve the state: whereas among the Cretans the kosmoi are not chosen out of the people in general, but out of some certain families, and the senate out of the kosmoi .

View in context

As an objection to this position, it may be remarked that the constitution of the national Senate would involve, in its full extent, the danger which it is suggested might flow from an exclusive power in the State legislatures to regulate the federal elections.