parliamentarian

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noun par·lia·men·tar·i·an \ ˌpär-lə-ˌmen-ˈter-ē-ən , -mən- also ˌpärl-yə- \

Definition of parliamentarian

1 often capitalized :an adherent of the parliament in opposition to the king during the English Civil War

2 :an expert in the rules and usages of a deliberative assembly (such as a parliament)

3 :a member of a parliament

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Recent Examples of parliamentarian from the Web

In May, a Pakistani parliamentarian from Swat, Malala's home region, said the attack was preplanned and staged by a variety of players - and with official Pakistani government connivance no less.

— chicagotribune.com, "Why Pakistan hates Malala," 15 Aug. 2017
The accusations of hypocrisy likely refer to a law proposed by Macron against parliamentarians employing family or spouses.

— suzannah weiss, Glamour, "Brigitte Macron Won't Be Getting a "First Lady" Position," 9 Aug. 2017
In Iraq, 25 percent of parliamentarians are women, while in Lebanon a mere 3 percent are.

— taylor luck, The Christian Science Monitor, "Across the Arab world, a 'Women’s Spring' comes into view," 9 Aug. 2017
The Senate parliamentarian was not going to accept everything that Republicans may have wanted to do on health care as a proper subject for a reconciliation bill, which in theory is limited to tax and spending measures.

— dan mclaughlin, National Review, "How Republicans Went Wrong on Health Care," 28 July 2017
The Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who serves as a sort of referee, has made a preliminary finding that a number of provisions of the bill appear to violate Senate rules.

— the new york times, NOLA.com, "Senate heads toward health care bill vote on Tuesday," 24 July 2017
But at the very least, the failure of this iteration of Trumpcare demonstrates that the Senator Majority Leader is not some supernaturally gifted parliamentarian whom Democrats are powerless to stop.

— jay willis, GQ, "Mitch McConnell Is an Embarrassing Failure, and He Has No One to Blame But Himself," 18 July 2017
The Senate parliamentarian will decide how the rule applies to the bill, though Vice President Mike Pence could technically overrule her.

— max bloom, National Review, "A Congressional Rule May Determine the Health-Care Bill’s Fate," 10 July 2017
A final determination would need to be made by the Senate parliamentarian.

— margot sanger-katz, New York Times, "Congress Is Facing a Time Crunch to Repeal Obamacare," 10 July 2017

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

First Known Use of parliamentarian

1642