plebiscite
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Sense 1 (“referendum”) is borrowed from French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum,[1] plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”).[2]
Sense 3 (“law enacted by the common people”) is a learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum: see above.[1] It is attested earlier than English plebiscitum.[2]
cognates
- Italian plebiscito
- Middle French plebiscite (modern French plébiscite)
- Middle Low German plebiscīt (“ordinance”)
- Spanish plebiscito, plebisçito (obsolete)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈplɛbɪsaɪt/, /-sɪt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈplɛbəˌsaɪt/
- Hyphenation: ple‧bi‧scite
Noun
[edit]plebiscite (plural plebiscites)
- (law, politics) A direct popular vote on an issue of public importance, such as an amendment to the constitution, a change in the sovereignty of the nation, or some government policy.
- Synonym: referendum
- (by extension) An expression of the public's views on an issue, whether legally binding or not.
- (Ancient Rome, historical) Synonym of plebiscitum (“a law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate”)
Derived terms
[edit]- plebiscitary
- plebiscitic (rare)
Translations
[edit]direct popular vote on an issue of public importance — see also referendum
|
expression of the public’s views on an issue, whether legally binding or not
|
synonym of plebiscitum — see plebiscitum
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “plebiscite, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “plebiscite, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “plebiscitum, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- referendum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Spanish
[edit]Verb
[edit]plebiscite
- inflection of plebiscitar:
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pleh₁-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *skey-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Law
- en:Politics
- en:Ancient Rome
- English terms with historical senses
- en:Democracy
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms