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• parliament
  parliament

  noun

  the legislature of Great Britain, historically the assembly of the three estates, now composed of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal, forming together the House of Lords, and representatives of the counties, cities, boroughs, and universities, forming the House of Commons.
• Parliament
  Parliament

  noun

  the highest legislative authority in Britain, consisting of the House of Commons, which exercises effective power, the House of Lords, and the sovereign

Trivia Time

Parliament comes from a French word meaning what?

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parliament

American  

[pahr-luh-muhnt, pahrl-yuh-] / ˈpɑr lə mənt, ˈpɑrl jə- /

Obsolete, parlement

noun

• parliaments
  plural

1. 

   (usually initial capital letter) the legislature of Great Britain, historically the assembly of the three estates, now composed of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal, forming together the House of Lords, and representatives of the counties, cities, boroughs, and universities, forming the House of Commons.

2. (usually initial capital letter) the legislature of certain British colonies and possessions.

3. a legislative body in any of various other countries.

4. French History. any of several high courts of justice in France before 1789.

5. a meeting or assembly for conference on public or national affairs.

6. Cards. fan-tan.

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Parliament ¹ British  

/ ˈpɑːləmənt /

noun

1. the highest legislative authority in Britain, consisting of the House of Commons, which exercises effective power, the House of Lords, and the sovereign

2. a similar legislature in another country

3. the two chambers of a Parliament

4. the lower chamber of a Parliament

5. any of the assemblies of such a body created by a general election and royal summons and dissolved before the next election

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parliament ² British  

/ ˈpɑːləmənt /

noun

1. an assembly of the representatives of a political nation or people, often the supreme legislative authority

2. any legislative or deliberative assembly, conference, etc

3. Also: parlement. (in France before the Revolution) any of several high courts of justice in which royal decrees were registered

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parliament Cultural  

1. An assembly of representatives, usually of an entire nation, that makes laws. Parliaments began in the Middle Ages in struggles for power between kings and their people. Today, parliaments differ from other kinds of legislatures in one important way: some of the representatives in the parliament serve as government ministers, in charge of carrying out the laws that the parliament passes. Generally, a parliament is divided by political parties, and the representative who leads the strongest political party in the parliament becomes the nation's head of government. This leader is usually called the prime minister or premier. Typically, a different person — usually a king, queen, or president — is head of state, and this person's duties are usually more ceremonial than governmental.

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Discover More

The number of nations governed by parliaments has greatly increased in modern times.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subparliament
  noun
• antiparliament
  adjective
• interparliament
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• parliaments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of parliament

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English: “discourse, consultation, Parliament,” from Anglo-Latin parliamentum, alteration of Medieval Latin parlāmentum, from Old French parlement “a speaking, conference” ( see parle, -ment); replacing Middle English parlement, from Old French

Explanation

In some countries — Great Britain for example — the group of people who make the laws is called the parliament. It's the equivalent of Congress in the United States. The most common meaning of parliament refers to a country's legislative (law-making) body. England's parliament is very famous. The word comes in part from the French verb parler, which means to speak, which makes sense since this group of people assemble to talk about laws and issues. Another meaning of parliament is the card game known as fan tan or sevens, where you lead with your sevens in a certain sequence and win by using up all your cards.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

parliament Parliament parliaments

Under a bill now making its way through the Swiss parliament, UBS would have to add around $16 billion more in equity capital because of the adjustments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecomu on Thursday was unveiling the country’s draft budget that he will try to push through a fractured parliament.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

His group and other militias hold top positions in ministries, as well as dozens of seats in Iraq’s parliament where they played a role in Zaidi’s selection in the negotiations that followed last year’s election.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Australia opened up its economy and encouraged business and trade, Chinese President Xi Jinping was invited to address parliament.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Some aspects of Islamic law are observed in Iran's legal system, but today the country mostly operates under civil law, ratified by the parliament.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Other options include the additional member system, a hybrid model that combines first-past-the-post with regional party lists that is used to elect members of the Scottish Parliament.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Andy Burnham said he will put forward tough decisions to fund a new national care service as part of Labour's next general election manifesto, seeking a mandate to make the changes next Parliament.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

She stands charged with corruption and influence peddling over alleged lobbying for Renault-Nissan between October 2009 and February 2013 while she was a member of the European Parliament.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

He added that the decision should be made jointly with Westminster, arguing that the UK Parliament has to have a "say on an issue of that magnitude".

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

As the other men argued about Parliament and letters of protest and counterletters and countcr-counterletters, Shabbywig stabbed at the last pieces of tongue on his plate and shoved them into his mouth.

From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Popes rarely address parliaments, trying to avoid overt political interventions.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

The idea runs back at least to the influential 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, who instructed that “Acts of parliament derogatory from the power of subsequent parliaments bind not.”

From Slate ● May 26, 2026

In next week's elections, voters in Scotland and Wales will go to the polls to elect representatives in the national parliaments, while voters in England will elect councillors in around 5,000 local authority seats.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

This particular form of instability—in which electoral outcomes haven’t caught up with voters’ frustrations—has long plagued polities on the Continent, where proportional voting systems accelerate the fracturing of authority in parliaments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

The Haudenosaunee thus would have the second oldest continuously existing representative parliaments on earth.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• court