checks and balances
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Usage
What does checks and balances mean? Checks and balances refers to a system of power that is divided into parts or branches. Each branch can stop or limit the powers of the others. Checks and balances are frequently used in governments, especially national governments.A system of checks and balances is fundamental to the United States’s federal government. The first three articles of the U.S. Constitution establish this system. The checks and balances ensure no one person or group has all the political power and can’t unjustly enforce their will on the nation’s citizens. The system is also intended to encourage cooperation, compromise, and debate between the branches of government.America’s system of government is divided into the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the executive branch. Each branch has ways it can limit the power of the others. Checks and balances exist at every level of American government (federal, state, and sometimes local).At the federal level, the legislative branch is Congress, the judicial branch is the federal court system (at the top of which is the Supreme Court), and the executive branch is led by the president. Creating laws is one way the U.S. uses checks and balances. Congress suggests a law in a bill. When it has enough votes, the bill goes to the president, who can accept or reject (veto) it. If the president vetoes a bill, it goes back to Congress. Congress can make changes or vote on it again. If two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives (the two parts of Congress) approve it, the bill becomes a law. However, the Supreme Court can rule a law unconstitutional, which means it is no longer a law.
Etymology
Origin of checks and balances
First recorded in 1780–90
Compare meaning
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In order to avoid that pitfall, Claude “should generally try to preserve functioning societal structures, democratic institutions, and human oversight mechanisms, and to avoid taking actions that would concentrate power inappropriately or undermine checks and balances.”
From Slate
A fully autonomous death merchant would undermine some checks and balances.
From Slate
“From the birth of our nation, our founders were obsessed with preventing tyranny and the emergence of another king, another despot. They created checks and balances, separation of powers, an independent judiciary. They understood that the greatest threat to liberty wasn’t foreign invasion, it was the concentration of power in the hands of one person or faction,” Schiff said on the floor of the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times
In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the checks and balances in the United States, praising the “rule of law” during a visit to a Paris agricultural fair: “It’s a good thing to have powers and counter-powers in democracies. We should welcome that.”
From Los Angeles Times
“Checks and balances exist for a reason, yet there was no evidence of a background check.”
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
