Meaning & use
filibuster
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Meanings
nouncountable
a long speech or other delaying tactic used to block a vote in a legislature
Grammar: Countable: a filibuster, several filibusters. Often used with 'launch' or 'stage'.
Patterns
- stage a filibuster
- a filibuster against something
- break a filibuster
The senator launched a filibuster to stop the bill from coming to a vote.
A filibuster can last for hours if the speaker keeps talking.
The party needed 60 votes to end the filibuster.
verbtransitive or intransitive
to use long speeches or procedural tricks to delay or prevent a legislative vote
Grammar: Can take an object (filibuster a bill) or be used alone (They filibustered for hours).
Patterns
- filibuster a bill
- filibuster for hours
- filibuster to block something
The minority party threatened to filibuster the nomination.
She filibustered for more than eight hours to draw attention to the issue.
They tried to filibuster the budget through the night.
Word forms
| third person singular | filibusters |
|---|---|
| past tense | filibustered |
| past participle | filibustered |
| -ing form | filibustering |
| plural | filibusters |
Common combinations
- stage a filibuster
- Opposition members staged a filibuster to delay the vote.
- break a filibuster
- It took three attempts to break the filibuster.
- filibuster a bill
- They promised to filibuster any bill that cut social security.
- a filibuster against
- Her filibuster against the tax plan lasted all night.
- threaten to filibuster
- The senator threatened to filibuster the healthcare reform.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delay
- Delay is a general word for making something late; filibuster is a specific legislative tactic to block a vote.
- obstruction
- Obstruction is a broader term for blocking progress; a filibuster is one particular method of obstruction in a legislature.
Opposites
Word family
- filibusterer noun
- a person who filibusters
Commonly confused: filibuster or flibbertigibbet?
filibuster vs flibbertigibbet
A flibbertigibbet is a silly, flighty person; filibuster is a political delaying tactic. They sound somewhat similar but are unrelated.
Practice
The senator decided to ______ the bill by speaking continuously for twelve hours.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' we need the base form of the verb: 'to filibuster'. 'Filibustering' is the -ing form, 'filibustered' is past tense, and 'filibusters' is third-person singular, none of which fit after 'to'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “filibuster”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.