''quorum'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260708194133-00-⌔

quorum - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

quorum (plural quorums or quora)

• (historical) A select body of (usually eminent) justices of the peace, every member of which had to be present to constitute a deciding body; a member of this body. Later more generally: all justices collectively. [from 1426]
• The minimum number of members required for a group to officially conduct business and to cast votes, often but not necessarily a majority or supermajority. [from 1616]
  • ✤ We can discuss the issue tonight but cannot vote until we have a quorum.
  • ✤ Texas House Democrats’ historic quorum break unexpectedly ended Thursday evening when at least three new Democrats returned to the floor, paving the way for state Republicans to pass restrictive voting legislation.
    The surprise turn of events quickly led to public accusations of betrayal among Democrats, as the House now has the required two-thirds of members necessary for a quorum.¹
  • ✤ They may not be using the same sort of hard-charging tactics we saw in the first Trump administration, when they would deny Republicans quorums for votes in committee or those kinds of things, but what we will see is they’re going to ask hard questions and make made-for-TV moments.²
• (now rare) Distinguished or essential members of any body; a select company. [from 1596]
• (computing, distributed systems) The minimum number of votes that a distributed transaction has to obtain in order to be allowed to perform an operation in a distributed system.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English quorum (c. 1426), from Anglo-Norman quorum, clipped from the Anglo-Latin wording of commissions in which certain persons were specially designated as members of a body by the words quorum vos unum esse volumus ad etc. (“of whom we want you to be one assigned to etc.”).³⁴ Latin quōrum is the masculine genitive plural of the relative pronoun quī (“who”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkwɔː.ɹəm/
• (US) IPA: /ˈkwɔːɹəm/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Hyphenation: quo‧rum

Printed 2026-07-08.

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Footnotes

1. 2021 August 19, Dianne Gallagher, “Texas Democrats’ effort to freeze voting bill ends”, in CNN ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

2. 2024 December 7, Zachary B. Wolf, “What will be the signature achievement of Trump 2.0?”, in CNN ‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩

3. William Lambarde (1582), “Certaine obſeruations, concerning the matter & forme of the Commiſſion of the Peace.”, in The Office of the Iuſtices of Peace, in two Bookes, Richard Tottel, page 49 ↩

4. William Rastell (1574), “Aſsiſe, Eſpeciall en Aſsiſe”, in A collection of Entrees., Richard Tottel, page 71v f. ↩