quorum

[kwawr-uh m, kwohr-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR quorum ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the number of members of a group or organization required to be present to transact business legally, usually a majority.

a particularly chosen group.

RELATED WORDS

attendance, plenum

Origin of quorum

First recorded in 1425–75, quorum is from the Latin word quōrum of whom; from a use of the word in commissions written in Latin specifying a quorum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for quorum

Contemporary Examples of quorum

Videos of Quorum: Global LGBT Voices talks and panel discussions will be broadcasted on The Daily Beast in coming months.
A Quorum For Change: The Fight For Global LGBT Equality
Justin Jones
December 11, 2014
Many agencies, such as the NLRB and the FEC, have multimember boards that require a quorum to operate.
Deregulators Lost at the Supreme Court When It Comes to Blocking Presidential Appointees
Aziz Haq
June 26, 2014
When the Democrats saw what was up, a bunch of them took off for Oklahoma, and New Mexico to prevent a quorum vote.
Sending the Hammer to the Slammer
Eric Alterman
November 25, 2010

Historical Examples of quorum

A majority constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
The Railroad Question
William Larrabee
Congress was to have assembled, but not a quorum of the members could be collected.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850.
Various
Mr. Speaker, I am paired, but I have voted in order to make a quorum.
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol 2 (of 2)
Harry Furniss
She is the last survivor of the quorum, and is now fast fading into dotage.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 459
Various
Wellborn, who presided, counted a quorum and declared the resolutions adopted.
Robert Toombs
Pleasant A. Stovall

British Dictionary definitions for quorum

quorum

noun

a minimum number of members in an assembly, society, board of directors, etc, required to be present before any valid business can be transactedthe quorum is forty; we don't have a quorum

Word Origin for quorum

C15: from Latin, literally: of whom, occurring in Latin commissions in the formula quorum vos…duos (etc) volumus of whom we wish that you be…two

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for quorum

early 15c., in reference to certain eminent justices of the peace, from Latin quorum "of whom," genitive plural (masc. and neuter; fem. quarum) of qui "who" (see who). The traditional wording of the commission appointing justices of the peace translates as, "We have also assigned you, and every two or more of you (of whom [quoram vos] any one of you the aforesaid A, B, C, D, etc. we will shall be one) our justices to inquire the truth more fully." The justices so-named usually were called the justices of the quorum. Meaning "fixed number of members whose presence is necessary to transact business" is first recorded 1610s.

Culture definitions for quorum

quorum

[(kwawr-uhm)]

The minimum number of members of a committee or legislative body who must be present before business can officially or legally be conducted. In the United States Congress, for example, either house must have a majority (218 in the House of Representatives, 51 in the Senate) to have a quorum.