prerogative

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: pre=rog=a=tive

CIDE DICTIONARY

prerogative, n. [F. prérogative, from L. praerogativa precedence in voting, preference, privilege, fr. praerogativus that is asked before others for his opinion, that votes before or first, fr. praerogare to ask before another; prae before + rogare to ask. See Rogation.].

•  An exclusive or peculiar privilege; prior and indefeasible right; fundamental and essential possession; -- used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise.  [1913 Webster]

  "The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination."  [1913 Webster]

  "An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative."  [1913 Webster]
•  Precedence; preëminence; first rank.  [1913 Webster]

  " The term came into general use in the conflicts between the Crown and Parliaments of Great Britain, especially in the time of the Stuarts."  [1913 Webster]

  "Then give me leave to have prerogative."  [1913 Webster]

Prerogative Court (Eng. Law), a court which formerly had authority in the matter of wills and administrations, where the deceased left bona notabilia, or effects of the value of five pounds, in two or more different dioceses. Blackstone. -- Prerogative office, the office in which wills proved in the Prerogative Court were registered.

Syn. -- Privilege; right. See Privilege.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

prerogative, n.
1 a right or privilege exclusive to an individual or class.
2 (in full royal prerogative) Brit. the right of the sovereign, theoretically subject to no restriction.

Etymology

ME f. OF prerogative or L praerogativa privilege (orig. to vote first) f. praerogativus asked first (as PRAE-, rogare ask)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

prerogative

n. A sovereign's right to do wrong.

THESAURUS

prerogative

absolute power, absolutism, accomplishment, advantage, appanage, appurtenance, ascendancy, authority, authorization, birthright, claim, competence, competency, conjugal right, constituted authority, deanship, delegated authority, demand, divine right, droit, due, excellence, exemption, faculty, favor, franchise, greatness, immunity, inalienable right, incomparability, indirect authority, inherent authority, inimitability, interest, jus divinum, lawful authority, lead, legal authority, legitimacy, liberty, majority, natural right, one-upmanship, perquisite, power, precedence, predominance, predomination, preeminence, preponderance, prepotence, prepotency, prescription, prestige, presumptive right, pretense, pretension, priority, privilege, proper claim, property right, regality, right, right-of-way, rightful authority, royal prerogative, sanction, seniority, skill, success, superiority, the say, the say-so, title, transcendence, transcendency, vested authority, vested interest, vested right, vicarious authority, virtuosity

ROGET THESAURUS

prerogative

Authority

N authority, influence, patronage, power, preponderance, credit, prestige, prerogative, jurisdiction, right, direction, government, divine right, dynastic rights, authoritativeness, absoluteness, absolutism, despotism, jus nocendi, jus divinum, mastery, mastership, masterdom, dictation, control, hold, grasp, grip, gripe, reach, iron sway, fangs, clutches, talons, rod of empire, commission, deputy, permission, at the head, dominant, paramount, supreme, predominant, preponderant, in the ascendant, influential, arbitrary, compulsory, stringent, at one's command, in one's power, in one's grasp, under control, in the name of, by the authority of, de par le Roi, in virtue of, under the auspices of, in the hands of, at one's pleasure, by a dash if the pen, by a stroke of the pen, ex mero motu, ex cathedra, from the chair, the gray mare the better horse, every inch a king.

Dueness

N due, dueness, right, privilege, prerogative, prescription, title, claim, pretension, demand, birthright, immunity, license, liberty, franchise, vested interest, vested right, sanction, authority, warranty, charter, warrant, constitution, tenure, bond, claimant, appellant, plaintiff, having a right to, entitled to, claiming, deserving, meriting, worthy of, privileged, allowed, sanctioned, warranted, authorized, ordained, prescribed, constitutional, chartered, enfranchised, prescriptive, presumptive, absolute, indefeasible, unalienable, inalienable, imprescriptible, inviolable, unimpeachable, unchallenged, sacrosanct, due to, merited, deserved, condign, richly deserved, allowable, lawful, licit, legitimate, legal, legalized, square, unexceptionable, right, equitable, due, en r gle, fit, fitting, correct, proper, meet, befitting, becoming, seemly, decorous, creditable, up to the mark, right as a trivet, just the thing, quite the thing, selon les r gles, duly, ex officio, de jure, by right, by divine right, jure divino, Dei gratia, in the name of, civis Romanus sum, +a chaque saint sa chandelle.