bicameral
adjective
bi·cam·er·al
(ˌ)bī-ˈkam-rəl
-ˈka-mə-
government
: having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers (see chamber entry 1 sense 4a)
a bicameral legislature comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate
Examples of bicameral in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The bicameral Legislature is made up of the Senate, with 22 Democrats and 13 Republicans, and the House, which has 80 Democratic members and 68 Republicans.
—Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 16 Apr. 2024
The bipartisan, bicameral bill, shared first with NBC News, was introduced by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.
—Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News, 7 Mar. 2024
Following the British parliamentary system that was in place in India until the country’s independence in 1947, India’s democracy is a multiparty parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature.
—Astha Rajvanshi, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
Get ready for a lobbying furor, because there’s suddenly a plausible, bipartisan, bicameral push to finally give the U.S. a comprehensive data-privacy law, going way beyond the protections for medical and children’s data that already apply country-wide.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2024
The bipartisan and bicameral push for the funding takes place as Congress and the White House rush to fund parts of the government ahead of funding deadlines.
—Willie James Inman, CBS News, 11 Jan. 2024
Tocqueville wanted a bicameral legislature on the American model, but proponents of a single chamber won the day.
—Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 28 Dec. 2023
Myself, Jim Himes, Darin LaHood, Brian Fitzpatrick, Senator Warner, Senator Rubio, and Senator Cornyn have a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would address some of the past abuses of the FBI, prevent them in the future, and also reauthorize 702.
—CBS News, 3 Dec. 2023
On November 7, a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of US lawmakers introduced a comprehensive privacy bill called the Government Surveillance Reform Act, led in part by veteran Senate Intelligence Committee member Ron Wyden.
—WIRED, 13 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bicameral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
bi- entry 1 + Late Latin camera chamber — more at chamber
First Known Use
circa 1832, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to bicameral
Dictionary Entries Near bicameral
Cite this Entry
“Bicameral.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bicameral. Accessed 10 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
bicameral
adjective
bi·cam·er·al
(ˈ)bī-ˈkam-(ə-)rəl
: consisting of two legislative chambers
a bicameral legislature
Medical Definition
bicameral
adjective
bi·cam·er·al
(ˈ)bī-ˈkam-(ə-)rəl
: having two chambers
Legal Definition
bicameral
adjective
bi·cam·er·al
ˌbī-ˈka-mə-rəl
: having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers
a bicameral legislature
bicamerality
noun
ˌbī-ˌka-mə-ˈra-lə-tē
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