Word.ws English Dictionary

checks and balances

checks and balances noun: a system for multiple branches of government wherein each has some control over the actions of each of the others. Also the third-person singular simple present indicative of check and balance.

Noun

checks and balances pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) A system for multiple branches of government wherein each has some control over the actions of each of the others.
    • The Constitution deliberately makes the President and the Congress competitors as well as partners. The Founding Fathers created an elaborate system of checks and balances to keep each partner self-reliant while still assuring their interdependence. No brief account can fully capture the complexity...1971, Lyndon Johnson, “Bite the Bullet”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 438
  2. (figuratively, plural, plural-only) Somebody or something that ensures a system remains safe, honest, etc.

Also used as

checks and balances is also the third-person singular simple present indicative of check and balance.

checks and balances meaning in Tagalog and Indonesian

checks and balances in Tagalog

system for balancing the powers between branches of government
pagpigil at pagtimbang

checks and balances in Indonesian

system for balancing the powers between branches of government
periksa dan timbang

Questions about checks and balances

What does checks and balances mean?
Checks and balances means a system for multiple branches of government wherein each has some control over the actions of each of the others.
What is checks and balances in Tagalog?
Checks and balances in Tagalog is pagpigil at pagtimbang. See Checks and balances meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is checks and balances?
Checks and balances is a noun.

Words near checks and balances in the dictionary

  1. checkrower
  2. checkrowers
  3. checkrowing
  4. checkrows
  5. checks
  6. checks and balances
  7. checks at the door
  8. checks in
  9. checks in with oneself
  10. checks into
  11. checks notes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: checks and balances (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “checks and balances.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/checks_and_balances. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.