referendum
Example Sentences
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The border was closed by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1969 after Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to remain British.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Yes Scotland Ltd, which was launched by former SNP leader and First Minister Alex Salmond to campaign for independence ahead of the referendum, has not been active since 2014.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Gibraltarians were staunchly opposed to Brexit, with 96% of them voting to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum on the issue.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
But when French President Emmanuel Macron announced the loan almost exactly a year ago, he brushed aside the warnings to celebrate Franco-British relations, 10 years after the bitter Brexit referendum.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Almost banning the death penalty through a popular referendum in an American state would have been unimaginable just a few years earlier.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
State referenda can be difficult to poll, but surveys say Maine on Tuesday might have a couple of squeakers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhr region are also developing bids, with referenda to be held in 2026.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2025
Such referenda are sometimes used to boost voter turnout, though results don’t carry the weight of law.
From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2023
Among the hundreds of referenda passed across the country in the midterm elections, voters in four states approved provisions making slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 30, 2022
As a result 33 referenda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about 160 other municipal governments memorialized the Ontario Legislature in favor.
From The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI by Harper, Ida Husted
Speaking of referendums, how about one to eliminate the State of the Union?
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
The international community, through the United Nations, placed the islands under U.S. administration after World War II. Decades later, the nations voted in referendums to enter into the compacts with the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
Maria Steen is a barrister and campaigner on social issues, who opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriage and abortion during referendums in the last decade.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2025
I think that deliberation, whether spread broadly in the schools or spread broadly before national elections, before referendums, before initiatives, could become part of everyday life.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2025
On the ballot in November 1867, the men in Kansas faced two referendums, one that deleted the word “white” from the description of voters and a second that deleted the word “male.”
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Vocabulary lists containing referendum
Election Lingo
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U.S. Government Lingo
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Electoral Elocution: The Verbiage of Voting
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