bicameral

adjective bi·cam·er·al \ (ˌ)bī-ˈkam-rəl , -ˈka-mə- \

Updated on: 19 May 2018

government : having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers (see ¹chamber 4a)

a bicameral legislature comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate

—

bicameralism

play \-rə-ˌli-zəm\ noun

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Recent Examples of bicameral from the Web

The October 2002 resolution received a resounding bicameral majority on October 3, 2002.

— kate keller, Smithsonian, "An Unlikely Hardliner, George H. W. Bush Was Ready to Push Presidential Powers," 14 May 2018
This is a serious piece of bipartisan, bicameral national security legislation drafted in consultation with Cfius member agencies, Treasury, Defense, Justice, the military and the intelligence community.

— WSJ, "Tech Export Review Is Completely Inadequate," 25 Mar. 2018
But Congress is a bicameral legislature, and the House deserves an opportunity to improve on the Senate’s work.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "The Art of a Banking Compromise," 16 Mar. 2018
The sale comes on the heels of the Japanese National Diet's approval of a plan to build an Aegis Ashore missile defense system (the National Diet is Japan's parliamentary-style bicameral legislature).

— sean gallagher, Ars Technica, "Japan to get latest Aegis ballistic missile interceptors from US," 10 Jan. 2018
Bipartisan, bicameral negotiations have been underway for months.

— Time, "Blame Game Continues as Senate Tries to Reach Shutdown Compromise," 21 Jan. 2018
There remain a lot of moving parts in bicameral efforts to provide a stopgap funding bill for federal programs and agencies and avoid a government shutdown, which would otherwise begin at midnight on Friday.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Temporary Spending Bill To Include Temporary Funding for CHIP," 21 Dec. 2017
Streamlining the form has bicameral, bipartisan support.

— melissa korn, WSJ, "Five Things on the House’s Higher Education Bill," 29 Nov. 2017
This is the first bicameral legislation aimed at doing so, according to a spokesman for Lee.

— eugene scott, Washington Post, "Democrats offer a bill to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol," 7 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bicameral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of bicameral

¹bi- + Late Latin camera chamber — more at chamber

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1832

in the meaning defined above

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Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

BICAMERAL Defined for English Language Learners

bicameral

adjective

: having two parts

Medical Dictionary

bicameral

adjective bi·cam·er·al \ (ˈ)bī-ˈkam-(ə-)rəl \

: having two chambers

Law Dictionary

bicameral

adjective bi·cam·er·al \ ˌbī-ˈka-mə-rəl \

: having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers

a bicameral legislature

—

bicameralism

play \ˌbī-ˈka-mə-rə-ˌli-zəm\ noun

—

bicamerality

\ˌbī-ˌka-mə-ˈra-lə-tē\ noun

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