referendum

C1 Topic:Communication

US /ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛndəm/ See IPA manual

Freq #22575

Meanings

1

noun
A direct vote by the public on a single political question or proposed law.

The country held a referendum on whether to join the union.
2

noun
An event widely seen as a judgement on someone or something else.

The election became a referendum on the government's economic policy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a direct vote by the public... plebiscite

Word family

Forms referendareferendums

Derived forms antireferendumneverendumpreferendumproreferendumpseudoreferendum

Etymology

From Latin referendum (“that which ought to be announced”), from refero (“to announce”).

referendus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication

External links

# referendum

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌɹɛfəˈɹɛndəm/
**Frequency rank:** 22575

## Meanings
1. A direct vote by the public on a single political question or proposed law.
2. An event widely seen as a judgement on someone or something else.

## Examples
- The country held a referendum on whether to join the union.
- The election became a referendum on the government's economic policy.

## Derived Forms
- antireferendum
- neverendum
- preferendum
- proreferendum
- pseudoreferendum

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: referendus

## Etymology
From Latin referendum (“that which ought to be announced”), from refero (“to announce”).

## AI Etymology
Referendum comes from Latin referendum (“that which ought to be announced”), from refero (“to announce”). The historical chain includes referendus (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as antireferendum, neverendum, preferendum, and proreferendum. In present use it covers a direct vote by the public on a single political question or proposed law and an event widely seen as a judgement on someone or something else.

## Topics
- Communication

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