Word.ws English Dictionary

cloture

UK/ˈkloʊ.tjʊə(ɹ)/US/ˈkloʊ.t͡ʃɝ/

cloture noun: in legislative assemblies that permit unlimited debate (that is, a filibuster): a motion, procedure or rule by which debate is ended so that a vote may be taken on the matter. For example, in the United States Senate, a three-fifths majority vote of the body is required to invoke cloture and terminate debate.

Noun

cloture (countable and uncountable, plural clotures)

  1. (US) In legislative assemblies that permit unlimited debate (that is, a filibuster): a motion, procedure or rule by which debate is ended so that a vote may be taken on the matter. For example, in the United States Senate, a three-fifths majority vote of the body is required to invoke cloture and terminate debate.
    • Now, a filibuster typically begins when a Senator or group of Senators signals their intent to filibuster – which can be done by a private conversation with the majority leader or by quietly placing a bill or nomination on hold. Given the modern Senate's scarce floor time, this threat is usually...2010 April 22, Mimi Murray Digby Marziani, Diana Lee, “Statement for the Record, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY”, in Examining the Filibuster: Hearings before the Committee on Rules and...
    Synonyms:
    closure

Verb

cloture (third-person singular simple present clotures, present participle cloturing, simple past and past participle clotured)

  1. To end legislative debate by this means.

Synonyms of cloture

Forms of cloture

Noun
pluralclotures
alternative formclôture
Verb
third-person singular presentclotures
present participlecloturing
past participleclotured
pastclotured

Origin of cloture

Borrowed from French clôture (“closure”). Doublet of closure and clausure.

Questions about cloture

What does cloture mean?
Cloture means in legislative assemblies that permit unlimited debate (that is, a filibuster): a motion, procedure or rule by which debate is ended so that a vote may be taken on the matter. For example, in the United States Senate, a three-fifths majority vote of the body is required to invoke cloture and terminate debate.
What part of speech is cloture?
Cloture can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce cloture?
Cloture is pronounced /ˈkloʊ.t͡ʃɝ/ (US).
What is the plural of cloture?
The plural of cloture is clotures.

Words near cloture in the dictionary

  1. clotting times
  2. clottings
  3. clottish
  4. clottishness
  5. clotty
  6. cloture
  7. clotured
  8. clotures
  9. cloturing
  10. clotweed
  11. clou

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cloture (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: “cloture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cloture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.