legislature

[lej-is-ley-cher] /ˈlɛdʒ ɪsˌleɪ tʃər/
noun
1.
a deliberative body of persons, usually elective, who are empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state; the branch of government having the power to make laws, as distinguished from the executive and judicial branches of government.
Origin
1670-80; legislat(or) + -ure
Related forms
sublegislature, noun
Examples from the web for legislature
  • Today, it is the working chambers of the city's small, partially elected legislature.
  • The legislature, which meets only every other year, takes its cues from the independently elected lieutenant governor.
  • They cannot be laughed away, nor always successfully stormed at, nor easily abolished by act of legislature.
  • And yet our legislature continues to up the mandate.
  • We all wondered how to respond to inaccuracies in the news media and in the legislature without fanning the flames.
  • It was a decision that left the judiciary at loggerheads with the legislature.
  • Members of the state legislature, meanwhile, have introduced a bill to curb the governor's powers of clemency.
  • Even then, to get her policies through, the new president will need to handle the legislature deftly.
  • No state has quite so many overlapping systems of accountability or such a gerrymandered legislature.
  • The alternative is to return to the original purpose of copyright, something no national legislature has yet been willing to do.
British Dictionary definitions for legislature

legislature

/ˈlɛdʒɪsˌleɪtʃə/
noun
1.
a body of persons vested with power to make, amend, and repeal laws Compare executive, judiciary
Word Origin and History for legislature
n.

1670s; see legislator + -ure.