Link Centre Dictionary

filibuster

fi·li·bus·ter

UK/ˈfɪlɪbʌstə(ɹ)/ US/ˈfɪləˌbəstər/ rare us

noun

1.

a legislator who gives long speeches in an effort to delay or obstruct legislation that he (or she) opposes

Synonyms
2.

a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

verb

1.

Origin

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.

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.