duma

American  

[doo-muh] / ˈdu mə /

noun

1. (in Russia prior to 1917) a council or official assembly.

2. (initial capital letter) an elective legislative assembly, established in 1905 by Nicholas II, constituting the lower house of parliament.

---

duma British  

/ ˈduːmə /

noun

1. (usually capital) the elective legislative assembly established by Tsar Nicholas II in 1905: overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1917

2. (before 1917) any official assembly or council

3. short for State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament

---

Etymology

Origin of duma

1865–70; < Russian, Old Russian dúma assembly, council (an early homonym with dúma thought); cognate with Bulgarian dúma word, Slovak duma meditation; Slavic *dum- probably < Gothic dōms judgment ( see doom)

Example Sentences

The peasants were virtually voteless and voiceless except for their chance to vote for a village leader of some other class, to vote in separate elections to the weak duma.

From Time Magazine Archive

The names of foreign bodies: mansion-house, parliament, reichstag, landtag, duma.

From Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of Newspaper Writing by Hyde, Grant Milnor

At a later day the boyars were the chief members of the prince’s duma, or council, like the senatores of Poland and Lithuania.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various