# filibuster

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɪlɪbʌstə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #33,239

## Definitions
1. A mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.
2. A tactic (such as giving long, often irrelevant speeches) employed to delay the proceedings of, or the making of a decision by, a legislative body, particularly the United States Senate.
3. A member of a legislative body causing such an obstruction.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish filibustero (“pirate”), from French flibustier, ultimately from Dutch vrijbuiter (“freebooter”), from vrij (“free”) + buit (“booty”) + -er (“agent”). The alteration in the first syllable in French is due to the word's being somewhat conflated with vlieboot (“light, flat-bottomed cargo vessel with two or three masts”) when it was borrowed into French or another language from Dutch. The word is cognate and analogous to English freebooter.

## Common misspellings (15)
`ffilibuster`, `fiilbuster`, `filbiuster`, `filibbuster`, `filibsuter`, `filibusetr`, `filibusster`, `filibusterr`, `filibustre`, `filibustter`, `filibutser`, `filiubster`, `fillibuster`, `fliibuster`, `iflibuster`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/filibuster