filibuster
Syllables: fil·i·bus·terUK/ˈfɪlɪbʌstə(ɹ)//ˈfɪləˌbəstər/
filibuster noun: a mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.
.jpg){kind=link}
Noun
filibuster (plural filibusters)
- A mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.
- These duties involved prodigious physical and mental exertion, in a climate deadly to Europeans. They also involved much voyaging in waters haunted by filibusters and buccaneers. But nothing appears to daunt Labat. As for the filibusters, he becomes their comrade and personal friend;—he even...1890, Lafcadio Hearn, Two Years in the French West Indies, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Bros., →OCLC
- Mexico's War of Independence (1810–1821) encouraged an increase in the activity of filibusters in northern Mexico, particularly Texas. Spain's concentration on repressing independence movements within Mexico created opportunities for filibusters to seize control of its northern frontier regions.2002, E. John Gesick, Jr., “Filibusters”, in Lee Stacy, editor, Mexico and the United States, volume 1 (Acapulco, Guererro – Film in Mexico), Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 307...
- Synonyms:
- adventurer, bravo, condottiere, freebooter, freelance, free companion, hired gun, hireling, hit man, merc
- A tactic (such as giving long, often irrelevant speeches) employed to delay the proceedings of, or the making of a decision by, a legislative body, particularly the United States Senate.
- No longer do filibustering Senators take the floor and speak until they are physically unable to filibuster any longer. 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...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...
- Then, last month, before the survey was finished and for reasons still unclear, the Democrats abruptly tried to attach a repeal of the law to the defence appropriations bill, a stratagem the Republicans defeated in a filibuster.2010 October 14, “An own goal on gay rights”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2016
- Antonyms:
- cloture
- A member of a legislative body causing such an obstruction.
- Synonyms:
- filibusterer
Verb
filibuster (third-person singular simple present filibusters, present participle filibustering, simple past and past participle filibustered)
- To take part in a private military action in a foreign country.
- According to U.S. law, filibustering was a violation of the Neutrality Law of 1818, which prohibited the organization within the United States of any armed force that intended to attack a friendly foreign power. The American government attempted, through the enforcement of this law, to prevent its...2012, William H. Brown, “Central America, Filibusters”, in Thomas M. Leonard, editor, Encyclopedia of U.S.–Latin American Relations, volumes 1 (A–E), Thousand Oaks, Calif.: CQ Press; London: SAGE...
- To use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body.
- But as the case had dragged on interminably, and he believed, and the world believed, and the Canadians themselves knew, that they intended to filibuster and postpone as long as possible, he took the common-sense way to a settlement.1919, William Roscoe Thayer, chapter 11, in Theodore Roosevelt: An Intimate Biography, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC
- 1901—Senator Carter successfully filibustered a river and harbor bill because it failed to include certain additional appropriations.1957, Special Subcommittee on Amendments to Rule XXII, Committee on Rules and Administration, United States Senate, Proposed Amendments to Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, Relating to...
filibuster meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
filibuster in Tamil
- நெட்டுரைஞர், நாடாளுமன்ற நடவடிக்கைத் தடுப்பு
filibuster in Urdu
- بحری قزاق
filibuster in Malayalam
- കപ്പൽക്കവർച്ചക്കാരൻ, കടൽക്കള്ളൻ, അയൽരാജ്യങ്ങളുമായി യുദ്ധമുണ്ടാക്കുന്നവൻ, തടസ്സപ്രസംഗം
Examples of filibuster in a sentence
- They also involved much voyaging in waters haunted by filibusters and buccaneers.1890, Lafcadio Hearn, Two Years in the French West Indies, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Bros., →OCLC:
- Filibusters were American citizens who used armed force to procure economic and political influence beyond the borders of the United States from 1848–1861.2012, William H. Brown, “Central America, Filibusters”, in Thomas M. Leonard, editor, Encyclopedia of U.S.–Latin American Relations...
- No longer do filibustering Senators take the floor and speak until they are physically unable to filibuster any longer.2010 April 22, Mimi Murray Digby Marziani, Diana Lee, “Statement for the Record, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY”, in Examining...
- When filibusters started being used in 1837, the lack of such a motion allowed for endless speechifying.2017 February 1, Michelle Cottle, “Why the Filibuster Is a Senator's Best Friend”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 06 Feb...
Synonyms of filibuster
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of filibuster
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | filibusters |
| alternative form | fillibuster |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | filibusters |
| present participle | filibustering |
| past participle | filibustered |
| past | filibustered |
Origin of filibuster
Borrowed from Spanish filibustero (“pirate”), from French flibustier, ultimately from Dutch vrijbuiter (“freebooter”), from vrij (“free”) + buit (“booty”) + -er (“agent”). The alteration in the first syllable in French is due to the word's being somewhat conflated with vlieboot (“light, flat-bottomed cargo vessel with two or three masts”) when it was borrowed into French or another language from Dutch. The word is cognate and analogous to English freebooter.
Words formed from filibuster
Questions about filibuster
- What does filibuster mean?
- Filibuster means a mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.
- What is filibuster in Tamil?
- Filibuster in Tamil is நெட்டுரைஞர், நாடாளுமன்ற நடவடிக்கைத் தடுப்பு. See Filibuster meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use filibuster in a sentence?
- They also involved much voyaging in waters haunted by filibusters and buccaneers.
- What part of speech is filibuster?
- Filibuster can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce filibuster?
- Filibuster is pronounced /ˈfɪlɪbʌstə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of filibuster?
- The plural of filibuster is filibusters.
Words near filibuster in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: filibuster (page history and authors); filibuster (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); filibuster (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); filibuster (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-filibuster.ogg, en-au-filibuster.ogg.
Cite this entry: “filibuster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/filibuster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.