executive branch

[ig-zek-yuh-tiv branch]

noun

1. the branch of government charged with the execution and enforcement of laws and policies and the administration of public affairs; the executive.

executive branch

1. The branch of federal and state government that is broadly responsible for implementing, supporting, and enforcing the laws made by the legislative branch and interpreted by the judicial branch. At the state level, the executive includes governors and their staffs. At the federal level, the executive includes the president, the vice president, staffs of appointed advisers (including the cabinet), and a variety of departments and agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Postal Service (see postmaster general). The executive branch also proposes a great deal of legislation to Congress and appoints federal judges, including justices of the Supreme Court. Although the executive branch guides the nation's domestic and foreign policies, the system of checks and balances works to limit its power.

Word History and Origins

Origin of executive branch¹

First recorded in 1710–20

Example Sentences

Abbott and Paxton, both members of the executive branch, are feuding over who can ask the judiciary to remove a sitting member of the Legislature.

From Salon

What distinguishes immigration proceedings from cases in federal or state courts is that both the lawyers and the judges are part of the executive branch, not the judiciary branch.

From Los Angeles Times

You mentioned how the onus should be on Republicans, who, of course, control both houses and the executive branch and have, I think, objectively speaking, ceded much of their authority to the president.

From Salon

For instance: In 2013 Democrats were so upset about Republican blockading of President Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominations that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the “nuclear option.”

From Los Angeles Times

The complaint argues that the Constitution does not give the executive branch power “to unilaterally refuse to spend appropriations that were passed by both houses of Congress and were signed into law.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bureau 
• department