bicameral legislature

Cultural

A legislature with two houses, or chambers. The British parliament is a bicameral legislature, made up of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Likewise, the United States Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It’s not obvious, after all, that we need a bicameral legislature in the first place.

From Slate • Aug. 12, 2025

One measure, introduced in 2018 in Mexico’s bicameral legislature, passed last year in one chamber and is now sitting in the other.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2023

Peruvians overwhelmingly rejected a bicameral legislature in a 2018 referendum.

From Reuters • Jul. 15, 2022

The Constitution established a bicameral legislature, with a Senate composed of two members from each state and a House of Representatives composed of members drawn from each state in proportion to its population.

From Textbooks • Jul. 28, 2021

The principal advantage of a bicameral legislature is that each house serves as a check upon the haste of the other and thus insures more careful consideration of bills.

From Government in the United States National, State and Local by Garner, James Wilford

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023