Plebiscitum
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A law enacted by the plebs, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the senate's intervention. Ancient-Rome
"Still worse went it with another individual; doomed, by extempore Plebiscitum, to the Lanterne; […]"
- 2 Synonym of plebiscite (“a direct popular vote on an issue of public importance, such as an amendment to the constitution, a change in the sovereignty of the nation, or some government policy; a referendum”).
"The propositions of M[axime] du Camp are as follows: […] 3. No war to be declared before it has been submitted to a plebiscitum of the nations preparing to take part in it."
Example
More examples"Still worse went it with another individual; doomed, by extempore Plebiscitum, to the Lanterne; […]"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”) (from scīscō (“to ascertain; to know; to decree, enact, ordain”) (from sciō (“to know; to understand”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect; to split”)) + -scō (suffix meaning ‘to begin [doing something]’)) + -tum (suffix forming action nouns from verbs)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.