Word.ws English Dictionary

Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem

Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem proper noun: a theorem dealing with deterministic ordinal electoral systems that choose a single winner, stating that for every voting rule, one of the following three things must hold: (i) the rule is dictatorial, i.e. there exists a distinguished voter who can choose the winner; or (ii) the rule limits the possible outcomes to two alternatives only; or (iii) the rule is susceptible to tactical voting: in certain conditions some voter's sincere ballot may not defend their opinion best.

Proper noun

the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem

  1. A theorem dealing with deterministic ordinal electoral systems that choose a single winner, stating that for every voting rule, one of the following three things must hold: (i) the rule is dictatorial, i.e. there exists a distinguished voter who can choose the winner; or (ii) the rule limits the possible outcomes to two alternatives only; or (iii) the rule is susceptible to tactical voting: in certain conditions some voter's sincere ballot may not defend their opinion best.

Origin of Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem

Published independently by philosopher Allan Gibbard in 1973 and economist Mark Satterthwaite in 1975.

Questions about Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem

What does Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem mean?
Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem means a theorem dealing with deterministic ordinal electoral systems that choose a single winner, stating that for every voting rule, one of the following three things must hold: (i) the rule is dictatorial, i.e. there exists a distinguished voter who can choose the winner; or (ii) the rule limits the possible outcomes to two alternatives only; or (iii) the rule is susceptible to tactical voting: in certain conditions some voter's sincere ballot may not defend their opinion best.
What part of speech is Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem?
Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem is a proper noun.

Words near Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem in the dictionary

  1. gibaro
  2. gibaros
  3. Gibb
  4. gibbable
  5. Gibbard's theorem
  6. Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem
  7. gibbed
  8. gibbed lathe
  9. gibbed lathes
  10. Gibbens
  11. gibber

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem (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.

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