Adjacent Words

Veto definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VE'TO, n. [L. veto, I forbid.] A forbidding; prohibition; or the right of forbidding; applied to the right of a king or other magistrate or officer to withhold his assent to the enactment of a law, or the passing of a decree. Thus the king of Great Britain has a veto upon every act of parliament; he sometimes prevents the passing of a law by his vet.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a vote that blocks a decision
2: the power or right to prohibit or reject a proposed or intended act (especially the power of a chief executive to reject a bill passed by the legislature) v
1: vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent; "The President vetoed the bill" [syn: veto, blackball, negative]
2: command against; "I forbid you to call me late at night"; "Mother vetoed the trip to the chocolate store"; "Dad nixed our plans" [syn: forbid, prohibit, interdict, proscribe, veto, disallow, nix] [ant: allow, countenance, let, permit]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural vetoes) Etymology: Latin, I forbid, from vetare to forbid Date: 1629 1. an authoritative prohibition ; interdiction 2. a. a power of one department or branch of a government to forbid or prohibit finally or provisionally the carrying out of projects attempted by another department; especially a power vested in a chief executive to prevent permanently or temporarily the enactment of measures passed by a legislature b. (1) the exercise of such authority (2) a message communicating the reasons of an executive and especially the president of the United States for vetoing a proposed law II. transitive verb (vetoed; vetoing) Date: 1706 to refuse to admit or approve ; prohibit; also to refuse assent to (a legislative bill) so as to prevent enactment or cause reconsideration • vetoer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. (pl. -oes) 1 a a constitutional right to reject a legislative enactment. b the right of a permanent member of the UN Security Council to reject a resolution. c such a rejection. d an official message conveying this. 2 a prohibition (put one's veto on a proposal). --v.tr. (-oes, -oed) 1 exercise a veto against (a measure etc.). 2 forbid authoritatively. Derivatives: vetoer n. Etymology: L, = I forbid, with ref. to its use by Roman tribunes of the people in opposing measures of the Senate

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Veto Ve"to, n.; pl. Vetoes. [L. veto I forbid.] 1. An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction. This contemptuous veto of her husband's on any intimacy with her family. --G. Eliot. 2. Specifically: (a) A power or right possessed by one department of government to forbid or prohibit the carrying out of projects attempted by another department; especially, in a constitutional government, a power vested in the chief executive to prevent the enactment of measures passed by the legislature. Such a power may be absolute, as in the case of the Tribunes of the People in ancient Rome, or limited, as in the case of the President of the United States. Called also the veto power. (b) The exercise of such authority; an act of prohibition or prevention; as, a veto is probable if the bill passes. (c) A document or message communicating the reasons of the executive for not officially approving a proposed law; -- called also veto message. [U. S.] Note: Veto is not a term employed in the Federal Constitution, but seems to be of popular use only. --Abbott.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Veto Ve"to, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vetoed; p. pr. & vb. n. Vetoing.] To prohibit; to negative; also, to refuse assent to, as a legislative bill, and thus prevent its enactment; as, to veto an appropriation bill.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(vetoes, vetoing, vetoed) 1. If someone in authority vetoes something, they forbid it, or stop it being put into action. The President vetoed the economic package passed by Congress. = block VERB: V n • Veto is also a noun. The veto was a calculated political risk. N-COUNT 2. Veto is the right that someone in authority has to forbid something. ...the President's power of veto.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Prohibition (of a legislative act by the Executive), refusal to sanction. 2. Authoritative prohibition, forbidding. II. v. a. Prohibit, forbid, negative, withhold assent to.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute veto, ban, block, constitute, decline, decree, defeat, denial, deny, disallow, disallowance, embargo, enact, enact laws, executive veto, filibuster, forbid, get the floor, have the floor, interdict, interdiction, item veto, kill, killing, legislate, limited negative, limited veto, lobby through, logroll, negative, nix, ordain, outlaw, pass, pigeonhole, pocket, pocket veto, preclude, preclusion, prevent, prevention, prohibit, prohibition, proscribe, proscription, put in force, put through, quash, quashing, railroad through, refuse, reject, rejection, roll logs, rule against, rule out, senatorial courtesy, stop, stoppage, suspensory veto, table, taboo, take the floor, turn down, veto message, veto power, yield the floor