Parliamentary Words & Terms

• Abstain: not voting one way or the other
• Adjourn: ending the meeting
• Adopt: to okay or accept
• Agenda: an outline of items to address at a meeting
• Amendment: adding on to a motion, usually to improve it, enlarge its intent, or to make it more understandable
• Appeal the decision of the Chair: to question the Chairperson’s decision and ask the group to change it
• Appoint: to place someone in a job or position
• Bylaws: the rules a group has agreed to follow and the goals of the organization
• Caucus: getting together outside the regular meeting to decide on plans, position, policy and/or people to nominate
• Chair: the position held by the meeting’s leader
• Committee: a group that reviews and reports on a special task given to them by the larger membership; a committee may recommend actions to be taken based upon its findings
• General consent: approval by the group. If even one member objects, a vote must be taken.
• Majority opinion: the decision of more than half the voting members
• Minority opinion: the position held by less than half of the voting members
• Minutes: official record of a meeting
• Motion: a member’s proposal for action
• Nominate: to recommend a person for election to office
• Pending: still up in the air and undecided
• Personal privilege: calling attention to something having to do with the well being of the people at the meeting, such as asking to have a window opened
• Point of information: asking for more information before making a decision
• Point of order: correcting a mistake that is against the rules of the organization
• Pro tem: temporary
• Orders of the day: calling for the group to get back to the agenda or the main business of the meeting
• Question: a motion that is under discussion with a vote to be taken on it
• Recess: taking a short break
• Rescind: to take back or withdraw
• Resolution: usually a policy statement being suggested to the group for approval
• Second: support for a motion; before a group can handle a proposal, it must know that two people want to have it discussed
• Standing Committee: a committee that goes year round such as a program planning committee
• Suspending of the rules: discussing something without sticking to the rules of the meeting
• Veto: to turn thumbs down on a motion or idea