Parliament definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (38)

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noun A national representative body having supreme legislative powers within the state.
noun The national legislature of various countries, especially that of the United Kingdom, made up of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

Century Dictionary (33)

A conference or consultation. Thus ended the parlement be-twene the fader and the sone. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 521. The Master gunner, who was a madde brayned fellow, and the owners seruant had a parlament betweene themselues. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 101. The interview between the King [William the Conqueror] and the magistrates of Le Mans is described [by a local writer] by a word often used to express conferences—in a word Parliaments—whether between prince and prince or between princes and the estates of their dominions. E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, IV. 380.
A meeting or assembly for conference or deliberation; especially, an assembly of the people or their representatives to deliberate or legislate on national affairs. The word is nearly confined to the legislative bodies of Great Britain and its colonies. Sometimes it is used with reference to other countries, as the German Parliament of 1848, the Italian Parliament: usually the word diet or the native name is preferred, as the Hungarian Diet, the German Reichstag, the Norwegian Storthing, etc. Prosecutions of Warres betweene a King and his Parliament are the direfull dilacerations of the world. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 67. Thy parliaments ador'd on bended knees The sov'reignty they were conven'd to please. Cowper, Expostulation, l. 538. Till the war-drum throb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. Tennysn, Locksley Hall.
Specifically [capitalized] The supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of the three estates of the realm, namely the lords spiritual, the lords temporal, and the commons; the general council of the nation, constituting the legislature, summoned by the sovereign's authority to consult on the affairs of the nation and to enact and repeal laws. Primarily, the sovereign may be considered as a constituent element of Parliament; but the word as generally used has exclusive reference to the three estates above named, ranged in two distinct branches, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes the lords spiritual and lords temporal. (See House of Lords, under lord.) The House of Commons consists of 670 members: viz., for England and Wales, 253 representatives of county constituencies (counties or divisions of counties), 237 of boroughs, and 5 of universities; for Scotland, 39 representatives of counties, 31 of burghs, and 2 of universities; for Ireland, 85 representatives of counties, 16 of boroughs, and 2 of a university. The authority of Parliament extends over the United Kingdom and all its colonies and foreign possessions. The duration of a Parliament was fixed by the Septennial Act of 1716 at seven years, but it seldom even approaches its limit. Sessions are held annually, usually from about the middle of February to the end of August, and are closed by prorogation. Government is administered by the ministry (see ministry and cabinet), which is sustained by a majority in the House of Commons, should the ministry be outvoted in the house on a question of vital importance, it either resigns office or dissolves Parliament and appeals to the country. The precursors of the Parliament were the Witenagemot in the Anglo-Saxon period and the National Council in the Norman and Angevin periods. The composition and powers of Parliament were developed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the right of representation from shires and towns dates from 1295, and the separation of the two houses dates from the middle of the fourteenth century. Parliamentary government was in large measure suspended from 1461 to the middle of the reign of Henry VIII. Prolonged struggles between the Parliament and the crown took place under James I. and Charles I., which led to the Civil War and the Commonwealth. The Triennial Act of 1694 (modified by the Septennial Act of 1716) fixed the life of Parliament at three years, and government by party dates from the same period. The right of election to Parliament has been greatly modified by the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884, and the Redistribution Act of 1885. I find that you have made choice of me to be one of your Burgesses for this now approaching Parliament. Howell, Letters, I. v. 4. When the Duke of Suffolk opened parliament, all the members, every time the king's name occurred, bowed until their heads all but touched the ground. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 289.

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This parliament was adjourned from Leicester, and re-assembled at Westminster on the Octaves of St. Martin, 18th November 1414. — The Project Gutenberg eBook of Henri of Monmouth Vol. II by J. Endell Tyler
"Whether the parliament will be able to use those powers effectively or not remains to be seen," Krafchik said about the constitutional change in Egypt, whose government has long been regarded as both corrupt and authoritarian. — Antiwar.com Original
A government that receives a majority of the parliament is a legitimate government. — Israel Ministry Of Foreign Affairs
Sarkozy camp wins majority in French parliament: official — Raw Story
"This parliament is the best [by all standards, given] its heated discussions and its ability to regain a part of the people's trust," Habib asserts.

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parliament

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