prerogative Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right)
    privilege; exclusive right; perquisite.
    • suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males

WordNet

Pre*rog"a*tive noun
Etymology
F. prérogative, from L. praerogativa precedence in voting, preference, privilege, fr. praerogativus that is asked before others for his opinion, that votes before or first, fr. praerogare to ask before another; prae before + rogare to ask. See Rogation.
Definitions
  1. An exclusive or peculiar privilege; prior and indefeasible right; fundamental and essential possession; -- used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise.
    The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination. I. Taylor.
    An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative. Macaulay.
  2. Precedence; preëminence; first rank. Obs.
    Then give me leave to have prerogative. Shak.
    ✍ The term came into general use in the conflicts between the Crown and Parliaments of Great Britain, especially in the time of the Stuarts. Syn. -- Privilege; right. See Privilege.

Webster 1913