quorum
English
Etymology
From Latin quōrum, genitive plural form of quī (“who, which”), used as standard wording in written commissions.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkwɔː.ɹəm/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkwɔːɹəm/
- Rhymes: -ɔːɹəm
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: quo‧rum
Noun
quorum (plural quorums or quora)
- 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.
- We can discuss the issue tonight but cannot vote until we have a quorum.
- 2021 August 19, Dianne Gallagher, “Texas Democrats’ effort to freeze voting bill ends”, in CNN[1]:
- 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.
- 2024 December 7, Zachary B. Wolf, “What will be the signature achievement of Trump 2.0?”, in CNN[2]:
- 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.
- A selected body of persons.
- (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.
Usage notes
The plural quora is sometimes objected to on the grounds that it is not grammatically correct: in Latin quorum is a plural pronoun, not a singular noun.
Derived terms
- disappearing quorum
- inquorate
- quorate
- quorum-busting
- quorum sensing
Translations
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Basque
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kwoɾum/ [kwo.ɾũm]
- Rhymes: -oɾum, -um
- Hyphenation: quo‧rum
Noun
quorum inan
Declension
| indefinite | singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| absolutive | quorum | quoruma | quorumak |
| ergative | quorumek | quorumak | quorumek |
| dative | quorumi | quorumari | quorumei |
| genitive | quorumen | quorumaren | quorumen |
| comitative | quorumekin | quorumarekin | quorumekin |
| causative | quorumengatik | quorumarengatik | quorumengatik |
| benefactive | quorumentzat | quorumarentzat | quorumentzat |
| instrumental | quorumez | quorumaz | quorumez |
| inessive | quorumetan | quorumean | quorumetan |
| locative | quorumetako | quorumeko | quorumetako |
| allative | quorumetara | quorumera | quorumetara |
| terminative | quorumetaraino | quorumeraino | quorumetaraino |
| directive | quorumetarantz | quorumerantz | quorumetarantz |
| destinative | quorumetarako | quorumerako | quorumetarako |
| ablative | quorumetatik | quorumetik | quorumetatik |
| partitive | quorumik | — | — |
| prolative | quorumtzat | — | — |
Further reading
- “quorum”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
quorum m (plural quorums)
Further reading
- “quorum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum, genitive plural form of quī (“who, which”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkwɔ.rum/
- Rhymes: -ɔrum
- Hyphenation: quò‧rum
Noun
quorum m (invariable)
- quorum (minimum number of members required)
See also
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkʷoː.rũː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkʷɔː.rum]
Pronoun
quōrum
- genitive masculine/neuter plural of quī
Adjective
quōrum
- genitive masculine/neuter plural of quī
Pronoun
quōrum
- genitive masculine/neuter plural of quis
Descendants
The word has been borrowed to mean the minimum number of members in an organisation required to reach a valid consensus.
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkfɔ.rum/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -ɔrum
- Syllabification: quo‧rum
Noun
quorum n (indeclinable)
- alternative spelling of kworum
Further reading
- quorum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- quorum in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin quōrum.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkwoɾum/ [ˈkwo.ɾũm]
- Rhymes: -oɾum
- Syllabification: quo‧rum
Noun
quorum m
- alternative form of cuórum
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “quorum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024