legislator
Americannoun
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a person concerned with the making or enactment of laws
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a member of a legislature
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of legislator
1595–1605; < Latin phrase lēgis lātor a law's bringer (i.e., proposer), equivalent to lēgis (genitive of lēx law) + lātor bringer ( lā ( tus ), suppletive past participle of ferre to bring + -tor -tor
Explanation
A legislator makes laws. Congress is full of legislators. You have several who represent you at both the state and national level. Don't confuse a legislator with the legislature. Whereas the latter refers to the group such as the Congress, a legislator is a member of the group. At the national level, senators and representatives are given the task of writing our laws. States sometimes have different names for their two legislative houses, but the set-up is similar. The United States may be the world's oldest democracy, but legislators have been around nearly forever — the Romans had them.
Vocabulary lists containing legislator
Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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Commonly Confused Words, List 5
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The Executive Branch: The Presidency and Vice Presidency
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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.
See Examples For:
The final vote came on Monday on a consent calendar, the place for matters considered so routine that no legislator even wishes to discuss them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Douglass may not have held a role as a judge, legislator, or even enfranchised citizen, yet he nonetheless played a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s understanding of equal citizenship in the Civil War era.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
If a legislator is visiting for an inspection, they are now required to present privacy waivers for each detainee they want to speak with, which must be signed by the detainee.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
Mannix, a Republican and long-time legislator, sat down with the communications companies to negotiate.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
It was an even more obvious metaphor for Christians, as it was easy to think of God as a legislator imposing laws on nature and to personify nature as obeying him.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Strategy also focuses on weapons systems, which corporations build for lots of money and legislators approve for lots of factory jobs.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
States didn’t rush into this area because governors and legislators woke up one morning wanting to manage college sports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
But she didn’t keep her word, Duncan told legislators.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Lee co-founded the "Clinical Peptides Society" and started a petition called "Save Peptides" which has garnered nearly 10,000 signatures and urges federal legislators to loosen restrictions on peptides.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Spend the whole day there hobnobbing with the legislators.
From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
