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”).

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
• 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: سنا (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: سینیٹ f (sīneṭ)
• Uzbek: senat (uz)
• Vietnamese: thượng nghị viện (vi)
• Welsh: senedd (cy)
• Yiddish: סענאַט m (senat)

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

• Latin: senātus (la) m
• Maori: kāhui hanga ture

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