English

Alternative forms

• Vetoist

Noun

vetoist ‎(plural vetoists)

1. (usually historical) One who uses, or supports the use of, the veto, especially in relation to the appointment of Catholic bishops in Ireland in the 19th century.
   • 1816, Catholicon; or, The Christian philosopher, page 195:

     I afterwards proceeded to shew, that both vetoists and anti-vetoists, by uniting to press, as a sine qua non, the necessity of emancipation on the mind of his Holiness, were forcing him to a decision, which at the present moment, for the reasons I then assigned, was pregnant with danger.

   • 1818, William Eusebius Andrews, The Orthodox journal and Catholic monthly intelligencer, volume 6:

     He acknowledged that he had concurred in sacrificing the delegate of the catholics of Ireland out of an absurd complacency to incurable vetoists and corrupt retainers of an hostile administration; but has he, by his subsequent behaviour, endeavoured to retrieve that loss of public principle he then so lamentably deplored?

   • 2002, Desmond Keenan, The Grail of Catholic Emancipation 1793 to 1829, page 142:

     As the only way to consult the Catholics throughout IReland was through a convention of delegates, and this was prohibited by the Convention Act (1793), the seeds for future disputes were laid. Though the two parties eventually became known as 'vetoists' and 'anti-vetoists, the split had occurred long before the word 'veto' was introduced into the public debate.