bicameral

bi·cam·er·al
B3I1C3A1M3E1R1A1L1
UK/bʌɪˈkaməɹəl/

adjective

Being or having a system with two, often unequal, chambers or compartments; of, signifying, relating to, or being the product of such a two-chambered system.

“the bicameral anatomy of the brain”

Similar
two-chambereddivided

Meanings

adjectivebicameral (not comparable)
  1. not comparableBeing or having a system with two, often unequal, chambers or compartments; of, signifying, relating to, or being the product of such a two-chambered system.

    the bicameral anatomy of the brain

    2 more examples

    By preventing legislative usurpation in the beginning, the bicameral legislature avoids executive usurpation in the end.

    1891, John William Burgess, Political Science and Comparative Constitutional Law, volume 2, page 108

    The legislature (Standeversammlung) is bicameral — the constitution of the co-ordinate chambers being finally settled by a law of 1868 amending the enactment of 1831.

    1911, “Saxony”, in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
  2. not comparablegovernmentOf, having, or relating to two separate legislative chambers or houses.

    Once the Senate votes, aides said, the first order of business in the bicameral talks will be to set an overall dollar figure […].

    2009 February 9, Carl Hulse, “In Congress, Aides Start to Map Talks on Stimulus”, in New York Times

    Antonyms: unicameral, tricameral

  3. not comparablemediaOf a script or typeface: having two cases, upper case and lower case.

    Aspect values on bicameral fonts are based on the size of the lowercase characters.

    2001, Yves Savourel, XML Internationalization and Localization, page 80
    2 more examples

    Bicameral (upper- and lowercase) unserifed roman fonts were apparently first cut in Leipzig in the 1820s.

    2004, Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, version 3.0, page 255

    2004, Parmenides, Peter Koch, et al., Carving the Elements: A Companion to the Fragments of Parmenides, page 91, For more than a thousand years, classical Greek has been habitually written in a bicameral, polytonic alphabet (one with caps and lower case and a set of diacritics marking tone and aspiration).

  4. not comparablehuman sciencesRelating to the functions of the two cerebral hemispheres in the history of human beings ‘hearing’ the speech of gods or idols, according to Julian Jaynes's theory of the bicameral mind.
    1 more example

    [The Linear B Tablets] were written directly in what I am calling the bicameral period. p.80; …to have an idea of the nature and range of the bicameral voices heard in the early civilizations. p.88; …how could [the brain] have been organized so that a bicameral mentality was possible? p.101; Like the queen in a termite nest or a beehive, the idols of a bicameral world are the carefully tended centers of social control, with auditory hallucinations instead of pheromones. p.144; …wherever and whenever civilization first began…there was a succession of kingdoms all with similar characteristics that, somewhat prematurely, I shall call bicameral. p.149; Bicameral gods [of conquering civilizations] are jealous gods. p.156, footnote; …I suggest that given man, language, and cities organized on a bicameral basis, there are only certain fixed patterns into which history can fit. p.159. How can we know that…idols ‘spoke’ in the bicameral sense? p.174.

    1976, 1990, Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveOf, having, or relating to two separate legislative chambers or houses.

antonym(s) of “typography”

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivecomposed of two legislative bodies

Opposite

adjectiveconsisting of two chambers

Similar
two-chambereddivided

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
  3. Proto-Italic*dwi-
  4. Latinbi-
  5. Englishbi-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂em-
  7. Proto-Indo-Iranian*kmárati
  8. Proto-Iranian*kamarā
  9. Ancient Greekκαμάρα (kamára)
  10. Latincamera
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  13. Englishbicameral

From bi- + Latin camera (“chamber”) + English -al.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian двукамарен
  • двукамарен (dvukamaren)having two separate legislative chambers
Catalan bicameral
  • bicameralhaving two separate legislative chambers
Chinese Mandarin 兩院制的 /两院制的, 有兩個議院的 /有两个议院的
  • 兩院制的 /两院制的 (liǎngyuànzhì de)having two separate legislative chambers
  • 有兩個議院的 /有两个议院的 (yǒu liǎng gè yìyuàn de)having two separate legislative chambers
Czech dvoukomorový, bikamerální
  • dvoukomorovýhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • bikamerálníhaving two separate legislative chambers
Dutch bikameraal, tweekamerhig
  • bikameraalhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • tweekamerhighaving two separate legislative chambers
Finnish kaksikamarinen, bikameraalinen
  • kaksikamarinenhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • bikameraalinen(typography, of a typeface or script) Having two cases: uppercase and lowercase
French bicaméral, bicaméral
  • bicaméralhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • bicaméral(typography, of a typeface or script) Having two cases: uppercase and lowercase
German Zweikammer
  • Zweikammerhaving two separate legislative chambers
Hungarian kétkamarás
  • kétkamaráshaving two separate legislative chambers
Icelandic tveggja deilda, með þvær þingdeildir
  • tveggja deildahaving two separate legislative chambers
  • með þvær þingdeildirhaving two separate legislative chambers
Italian bicamerale
  • bicameralehaving two separate legislative chambers
Japanese 二院制
  • 二院制 (niinsei)having two separate legislative chambers
Korean 양원제의
  • 양원제의 (yang'wonje'ui)having two separate legislative chambers
Polish dwuizbowy, bikameralny
  • dwuizbowyhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • bikameralnyhaving two separate legislative chambers
Portuguese bicameral, bicamaral
  • bicameralhaving two separate legislative chambers
  • bicamaralhaving two separate legislative chambers
Romanian bicameral
  • bicameralhaving two separate legislative chambers
Russian двухпала́тный, име́ющий ве́рхний и ни́жний реги́стры
  • двухпала́тный (dvuxpalátnyj)having two separate legislative chambers
  • име́ющий ве́рхний и ни́жний реги́стры (iméjuščij vérxnij i nížnij regístry)(typography, of a typeface or script) Having two cases: uppercase and lowercase
Spanish bicameral
  • bicameralhaving two separate legislative chambers
Ukrainian двопала́тний
  • двопала́тний (dvopalátnyj)having two separate legislative chambers
Cite this entry
APA

bicameral. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bicameral

MLA

“bicameral.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bicameral. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bicameral,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bicameral.

Source: bicameral on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.