senate

See also: Senate

English

Etymology

From Middle English senat, from Old French senat, from Latin senātus (“council of elders; a senate”), from senex (“old”). Doublet of Senedd.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛnɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛnət/, /ˈsɛnɪt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsenət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnɪt, -ɛnət

Noun

senate (plural senates)

1. In some bicameral legislative systems, the upper house or chamber.
2. A group of experienced, respected, wise individuals serving as decision makers or advisors in a political system or in institutional governance, as in a university, and traditionally of advanced age.
   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, canto 11, stanza 13, lines 4338-9:

     Before the Tyrant's throne
     All night his aged Senate sate.

3. In Germany, the executive branch of government in the city states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg; the governments of cities that were part of the Hanseatic League; and the bench in a higher appellate court.

Derived terms

• senate-house

Related terms

• senator
• senatorial
• senatus
• senescent
• senile
• senior

Descendants

• → Swahili: seneti

Translations

the upper house in some bicameral legislative systems

Afrikaans: senaat Albanian: senat (sq) m Arabic: مَجْلِس الشُّيُوخ m (majlis aš-šuyūḵ) Armenian: սենատ (hy) (senat) Azerbaijani: senat Basque: senatu (eu) Belarusian: сена́т (sjenát) Bulgarian: сена́т (bg) m (senát) Burmese: အထက်လွှတ်တော် (my) (a.htakhlwattau), ဆီနိတ် (my) (hcinit) Catalan: senat (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 參議院 / 参议院 (zh) (cānyìyuàn) Czech: senát (cs) m Danish: senat (da) n Dutch: senaat (nl) m Esperanto: senato Estonian: senat Finnish: senaatti (fi) French: sénat (fr) m Georgian: სენატი (senaṭi) German: Senat (de) m Greek: γερουσία (el) f (gerousía) Haitian Creole: sena Hebrew: סֶנָאט m (senát) Hindi: सीनेट f (sīneṭ) Hungarian: szenátus (hu) Icelandic: öldungadeild f Igbo: senēètì Indonesian: senat (id) Interlingua: senato Irish: seanad m Italian: senato (it) m Japanese: 上院 (ja) (じょういん, jōin), 元老院 (ja) (げんろういん, genrōin) (Rome) Kazakh: сенат (senat) Khmer: ព្រឹទ្ធសភា (prɨtsaʼphiə) Korean: 상원(上院) (sang'won), 원로원(元老院) (ko) (wollowon) (Rome) Kyrgyz: сенат (ky) (senat) Lao: ວຸດທິສະພາ (wut thi sa phā) Latin: senātus (la) m Latvian: senāts m Lithuanian: senatas (lt) m Macedonian: сенат m (senat) Malay: senat Mongolian: Cyrillic: сенат (mn) (senat) Mongolian: ᠰᠧᠨᠠᠲ᠋ (sēnat) Norwegian: Bokmål: senat (no) n Persian: Iranian Persian: سِنا (fa) (senâ) Polish: senat (pl) m Portuguese: senado (pt) m Russian: сена́т (ru) m (senát) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сѐна̄т m Roman: sènāt (sh) m Slovak: senát m Slovene: senat (sl) m Sotho: senate Spanish: senado (es) m Swahili: seneti Swedish: senat (sv) c Tajik: сенат (senat) Thai: วุฒิสภา (th) (wút-tí-sà-paa) Turkish: senato (tr) Turkmen: senat Ukrainian: сена́т m (senát) Urdu: سِینیٹ f (sīneṭ) Uzbek: senat (uz) Vietnamese: thượng nghị viện (vi) Welsh: senedd (cy) Yiddish: סענאַט m (senat) Yoruba: ilé aṣòfin-agba

a group of experienced, respected, wise individuals serving as decision makers or advisors

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Latin: senātus (la) m Maori: kāhui hanga ture Yoruba: sẹ́néètì

References

• “senate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “senate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• Santee, atenes, enates, ensate, sateen, tenase