Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A group of people officially delegated to perform a function, such as investigating, considering, reporting, or acting on a matter. See Usage Note at collective noun.
- n. Archaic A person to whom a trust or charge is committed.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One or more individuals to whom the care of the person or estate of another, as a lunatic, an imbecile, an inebriate, or an infant in law, is committed by the judge of a competent court. The committee commonly consists of one person, and is distinguished as a committee of the person, of the estate, or of the person and estate, according to the subject or subjects of custody. In some cases the two functions are combined in one committee, and in others they are assigned to different committees.
- n. One or more persons elected or appointed to attend to any matter or business referred to them, as by a legislative body, a court, corporation, society, etc.
Wiktionary
- n. a group of persons convened for the accomplishment of some specific purpose, typically with formal protocols
- n. archaic a guardian; someone in charge of another person deemed to be unable to look after himself or herself.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One or more persons elected or appointed, to whom any matter or business is referred, either by a legislative body, or by a court, or by any collective body of men acting together.
- n. (Law) One to whom the charge of the person or estate of another, as of a lunatic, is committed by suitable authority; a guardian.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a self-constituted organization to promote something
- n. a special group delegated to consider some matter
Etymologies
- (Can we verify(+) this etymology?) From English commit + -ee, else revival of Anglo-Norman commite, past participle of commettre ("to commit"), from Latin committere, from con- ("with") + mittere ("to send"). (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English committe, trustee, from Anglo-Norman comité, past participle of cometre, to commit, from Latin committere; see commit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The committee may be either a standing committee, appointed for a definite time, as a session or a year; or a special [or select] committee, appointed for a special purpose; or a committee of the whole consisting of the entire assembly.”
9. Committees and Boards. 52. Committees, Special and Standing
“It is, doubtless, in humble imitation of such illustrious examples, that an Irishman of the lowest class, when he means to express that he is a member of a committee, says, _I am a committee_; thus consolidating the power, wisdom, and virtue of a whole committee in his own person.”
“It looks like Chicken's Don't Have Armpits isn't even going to be a choice that the title committee will look at.”
“But this morning we are in committee, and the committee is discussing an important matter, and it was on purely moral grounds that I raised my voice against the sale of pornographic literature or newspapers on the streets of, our cities.”
“* The term committee in those ear'y days was sometimes applied even to the Continental Congress (see Jones 'Defence; and the veteran John Simeson, speaker of the authorized County Committees or Congresses.) On the other hand, the ancestral name of McKnitt was held by no family in the county, and he accepted the soubriquet from the mouth of those who held him in the highest esteem both in Church and State.”
Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians
“Long is quick to use the word committee when talking about his backs, but it's clear he likes Sims' total package.”
“The RUC's Dr. Levy says the committee is already recommending changes for services that have moved to an outpatient setting.”
The Wall Street Journal: Physician Panel Prescribes the Fees Paid by Medicare
“RUC Chairwoman Barbara Levy says the committee is an expert panel, not meant to be representative, and that members don't vote in blocs tied to their specialties 'interests.”
The Wall Street Journal: Dividing the Medicare Pie Pits Doctor Against Doctor
“Dr. Levy says the committee is an expert panel, not meant to be representative, adding: "The outcomes are independent of who's sitting at the table from one specialty or another.”
The Wall Street Journal: Physician Panel Prescribes the Fees Paid by Medicare
“[AS] And, one of the aspects of the work that has been highlighted by the committee is the ribosome's interaction with antibiotics and the hope that understanding the structural nature of those interactions will ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘committee’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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SPOR - Olympic glossary
weightlift, orbitale, figure skate, speed skate, synchronizer, equestrian sport, bobsleigh, starting block, diesis, ligne, piste, water ski and 521 more...
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POL - legislation
US Congress/Senate + Westminster + European Parliament usage
across the desk, act, action, adjournment, adjournment sine die, adoption, advise and consent, amendment, analysis of the b..., apportionment, appropriation, appropriations limit and 652 more...
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POL - elections
weak democracy, stand a chance ag..., whistle stop, special interest ..., voting machine, trumpeting support, voting power, to court votes, war chest, short-term observ..., soak-the-rich lef..., term of office and 930 more...
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EN - eesily missspellable wirds
accessible, accommodate, achievement, acquaintance, address, advertisement, alleged, athletics, attendance, auxiliary, believe, challenge and 118 more...
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Groups
Words synonymous with 'group.'
congregation, crowd, gaggle, flock, clique, bunch, cluster, herd, mass, mob, multitude, organization and 118 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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EU Buzz - 100 most active collocation...
The 100 most frequent constituents of EU collocations. People working for the EU are able to complete any of these words to a multiple-word expression with ease. Try it out if you are one! For a gr...
accession, acquis, act, action, agenda, agreement, aid, area, assistance, association, base, budget and 88 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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2007bee-r02
2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee Round 2
query, tendency, danceable, parachute, malignant, brutal, humanely, lyrically, deductible, shindig, gravel, embroidered and 274 more...
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Groups and Organizations
association, chamber, committee, conclave, consilium, convocation, court, fellowship, guild, institute, league, lodge and 4 more...
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Yes, minister
bennite, preposterous, exiguous, honours, dangerous precedent, interdepartmental, committee, repercussions, precipitate, oxford, churchillian, minister and 45 more...
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Words I hate!
Confusing, unclear, hard to spell, or just diagnostic of personal problems.
stationery, stationary, discreet, discrete, capital, capitol, cancelled, canceled, bureaucracy, hors d' oeuvres, judgment, committee
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Government
For better or worse they belong to us
parliament, congress, senate, federation, republic, democracy, sergeant-at-arms, speaker, house of represen..., black rod, mace, governor-general and 46 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for committee.
oroboros Daffynition: a group that keeps minutes and wastes hours. Jan 6, 2007