senatorial

[sen-uh-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-]

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or befitting a senator or senate.

   senatorial oratory.

2. consisting of senators.

Other Word Forms

• senatorially adverb
• nonsenatorial adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of senatorial¹

1730–40; < Latin senātōri ( us ) ( senator, -tory ¹ ) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Both say that Chairman Cash should have allowed them to exercise their senatorial courtesy to speak outside of public comment and reasonably exceed the two-minute limit.

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McConnell invoked an iffy senatorial precedent to stonewall Garland’s confirmation, claiming that the Senate shouldn’t confirm high court appointees in the final year of a presidency.

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Longtime Trump supporter and failed senatorial candidate Linda McMahon, former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, may soon be running the Department of Education, an agency that Trump has pledged to eliminate.

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Mid-term elections are due in May next year, in which the entire lower house and half of the 24 senatorial seats will be contested.

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Harris’s glimmers of senatorial interest in scaling back military largesse faded into standard bellicosity.

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Related Words

• congressional 
• parliamentary