Parliamentary government Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

parliamentary government

noun

: a system of government having the real executive power vested in a cabinet composed of members of the legislature who are individually and collectively responsible to the legislature
has a democratically elected parliamentary government

Examples of parliamentary government in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Allegations linking senior officials in Moldova’s pro-EU parliamentary government to money laundering are rife. Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski, Foreign Affairs, 27 Nov. 2017 Meanwhile, Israel’s parliamentary government somehow couldn’t rid itself of the spectacularly corrupt Bibi Netanyahu, whose far-right coalition government is its own political, judicial, and humanitarian catastrophe. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 5 Jan. 2023 In The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg has congratulated the British and our system of parliamentary government on the expeditious way an unworthy head of government can be removed, something Americans can only dream of. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2022 To protect the new German democracy from the political divisions that had plagued parliamentary government during the Weimar period, an electoral law was introduced that aimed to prevent the proliferation of small extremist parties. Sylvia Taschka, The Conversation, 12 Jan. 2021 The key document comes from February 1953, five months before British and U.S. spies helped overthrow the parliamentary government led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. NBC News, 5 June 2020 In a hyperpolarized system such as ours (as opposed to a European parliamentary government), what seem to be inevitable political coalitions are just as often post hoc frameworks grafted on top of marriages of convenience. Thomas Chatterton Williams, Harper's magazine, 20 Jan. 2020 Britain’s sea power, imperialism, parliamentary government, and majority-Protestant religion set it apart from its European neighbors — and not just because of its geographical isolation. Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 12 Sep. 2019 His narrative began with Carl Schmitt, a German political thinker who sharply criticized not just the Weimar Republic, but also the basic tenets of liberal democracy and parliamentary government. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 12 Sep. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parliamentary government.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of parliamentary government was in 1844

Dictionary Entries Near parliamentary government

Cite this Entry

“Parliamentary government.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parliamentary%20government. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Legal Definition

parliamentary government

noun
: a system of government having the real executive power vested in a cabinet composed of members of the legislature who are individually and collectively responsible to the legislature
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