prerogative
prerogative Lexical Profile
prerogative Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An exclusive right or privilege held by a person, group, or official body, especially one attached to a specific rank, office, or status.
"It is the manager's prerogative to assign project deadlines and allocate resources across the department."
• adjective
Arising from, possessing, or exercising an exclusive right or official privilege, especially that of a sovereign.
"The constitutional scholar analyzed the historical limits of prerogative powers in parliamentary democracies."
Word Nuance & Usage
Because of unstressed vowel reduction in speech, "prerogative" is frequently mispronounced and misspelled as "perogative." It should not be confused with "pejorative," which means expressing contempt or disapproval.
• Rhymes for prerogative
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed via Old French from Latin praerogativa, denoting the voting tribe or century chosen by lot to cast its ballot first in Roman assemblies, from praerogare ("to ask first").