referendum
Pluralreferenda, referendums
- 1A direct vote by the public on a proposed law or constitutional amendment.
The government called a referendum on the proposed constitutional amendment.
Several referendums on electoral reform failed to reach the required turnout.
Similarplebiscite
Note
A term of political machinery taken straight from Latin, where referendum meant "that which ought to be announced," from refero, "I announce." Governments hold or call one, and the question follows on: a referendum on the bond issue, on a name change. Both plurals are in use. Referenda keeps the Latin shape, and referendums follows ordinary English. Plebiscite is its close synonym.
- 2An action, choice, or event that is perceived as passing judgment on some separate matter.
Commentators framed the special election as a referendum on the governor's economic policy.
Her resignation was widely read as a referendum on the board's leadership.
Similarverdict, judgment, test
Note
Here no ballot is cast. An election, a resignation or even a family decision gets read as a verdict on something else. The construction is borrowed whole from the political vote: referendum on, followed by whatever is being judged. The word tends to travel with verbs of interpretation such as taken as, framed as and read as, because the judgment belongs to the observer, not to the act itself.
Practice
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Origin
From the Latin referendum, 'that which ought to be announced', which comes from the verb refero, 'I announce'.