Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A law court.
  • noun The bench where a judge or other presiding judicial officer sits in court.
  • noun The place where a session of court is held.
  • noun A committee or board appointed to adjudicate in a particular matter.
  • noun Something that has the power to determine or judge.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The seat of a magistrate or judge; the bench on which a judge and his associates sit to administer justice.
  • noun Hence A court of justice.
  • noun Eccles., the confessional.
  • noun [Sp. pron. trē-bö-näl′ .] In villages in the Philippines, a kind of town-hall or common house, used as a meeting-place by the bead men of the village, for the entertainment of travelers, and for other purposes of general interest.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The seat of a judge; the bench on which a judge and his associates sit for administering justice.
  • noun Hence, a court or forum.
  • noun In villages of the Philippine Islands, a kind of townhall. At the tribunal the head men of the village met to transact business, prisoners were confined, and troops and travelers were often quartered.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An assembly including one or more judges to conduct judicial business; a court of law.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin tribūnal, judge's platform, from tribūnus, tribune; see tribune.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tribunal, from Latin tribūnal ("tribunal")

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