Glossary

Short explanations of American and world terms that come up in the news.

401(k) and IRA: Retirement savings accounts with tax breaks. A 401(k) comes through an employer, which often adds money of its own, and an IRA is opened by the saver. Taking money out before age 59½ brings a penalty.
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): The 2010 health law. It created marketplaces where people without employer insurance buy plans with subsidies based on income, barred insurers from turning away people with existing illnesses, and let states expand Medicaid.
Appeals court: A court that reviews a lower court's decision for legal mistakes. It does not hear witnesses again, and above the federal appeals courts there is only the Supreme Court.
Asylum: Protection for a person persecuted at home for their race, religion, nationality, political views or social group. Usually it must be requested within a year of arriving.
Attorney General: The head of the Justice Department and the government's chief lawyer. Each state has its own attorney general too.
Bail (bond): Money or conditions a judge sets so that an accused person stays free until trial. “Held without bond” means the judge kept the person in jail. Rules differ by state.
Ballot measure: A law or constitutional change that voters approve or reject directly at the polls, alongside the candidates. Names vary by state: proposition, initiative, referendum, amendment.
Brent crude and the barrel: Brent is the benchmark price for most of the world's oil, and WTI is the US benchmark. Oil is priced per barrel, about 159 litres.
Buyback and dividend: Two ways a company gives cash to shareholders. A dividend is a payment per share. In a buyback the company buys its own shares, so each remaining share owns a bigger piece of the company.
CBP and Border Patrol: Customs and Border Protection guards the borders and checks everyone entering the country. The Border Patrol is part of it.
Clemency and commutation: Mercy a president or governor grants a convicted person. A commutation shortens the sentence but the conviction stands, a pardon forgives the crime, and a reprieve only delays the punishment.
Coalition and caretaker government: In a parliamentary system a government needs a majority of seats. When no party has one, several parties govern together and share the ministries. Until a new government is formed, the old one stays on as a caretaker with limited powers.
Congress: The US parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives. A bill becomes law when both pass it and the president signs it.
DACA: A program since 2012 for people brought to the US as children without papers: it protects them from deportation and lets them work, renewed every two years. It gives no green card or citizenship.
Death row and lethal injection: Where prisoners sentenced to death wait, often for years, while their appeals are heard. The death penalty exists in about half the states and under federal law, and lethal injection is the usual method.
Debt ceiling: The limit, set by Congress, on how much the federal government may borrow. If it is not raised in time, the government could run out of money to pay its bills.
Deportation: Forced removal from the US of a person with no legal right to stay. An immigration court usually orders it, but some people are removed faster, without a hearing.
DHS (Department of Homeland Security): The federal ministry in charge of borders and immigration enforcement. ICE, CBP and USCIS belong to it, as do the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and the disaster agency FEMA.
Dissent: The written opinion of the judges who disagree with the court's majority. It has no legal force, but it spells out the other side and is often quoted later.
District attorney and US attorney: A district attorney is the local prosecutor, usually elected, who brings charges under state law. A US attorney is the federal prosecutor for a district, appointed by the president, who brings federal charges.
Due process: The constitutional rule that the government must follow fair procedures, such as notice and a hearing before a neutral judge, before taking away someone's freedom or property. It protects everyone in the US, not only citizens.
Early voting: Voting in person before Election Day. Each state sets the dates and rules.
Electoral College: The president is chosen not by the national vote but by 538 electors from the states, and 270 win. Nearly every state gives all its electors to its winner, so a candidate can win the presidency while losing the popular vote.
EPA: The federal agency that sets and enforces the rules on air and water pollution, chemicals and vehicle emissions.
Executive order: A president's written order to federal agencies. It cannot override a law passed by Congress, courts can block it, and the next president can cancel it.
FBI: The Federal Bureau of Investigation: the main federal police and counterintelligence agency, part of the Justice Department.
FEC (Federal Election Commission): The agency that enforces the rules on campaign money: donation limits and public records of who gave what. Journalists use its records to see who funds a campaign.
Federal Reserve (the Fed): The central bank of the United States. It sets the key interest rate, which moves the rates on loans, mortgages and savings.
Felony and misdemeanor: A felony is a serious crime that can bring more than a year in prison, and a conviction can cost the right to vote or some jobs. A misdemeanor is a lesser offence: up to a year in jail, a fine or probation.
Filibuster: A Senate rule: to end debate on most bills and hold a vote, 60 of the 100 senators must agree. This lets a minority block legislation.
First Amendment: The part of the US Constitution that bars the government from limiting speech, the press, religion, peaceful assembly and petitions. It restrains the government, not private companies or employers.
Fourteenth Amendment: Added in 1868 after the Civil War. It makes everyone born in the United States a citizen and requires the states to treat all people fairly and equally under the law.
GDP: Gross domestic product: the value of everything a country produces in a period. When it grows, the economy is expanding. The quarterly growth figure for the US is usually quoted as an annual rate.
GOP: “Grand Old Party”: a nickname for the Republican Party, used since the 1870s. GOP and Republican mean the same thing.
Government shutdown: When Congress fails to pass funding in time, part of the federal government stops: some employees stay home, others work without pay until the money is approved.
Grand jury: A group of citizens who decide behind closed doors whether there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime. It does not decide guilt. That is for the trial.
Green card: Permanent residence: the right to live and work in the US without a time limit. After a few years a holder can apply for citizenship.
H-1B visa: A temporary work visa for jobs that need a university degree, such as engineers and doctors. The employer applies for it, and because there are more applicants than visas each year, most go through a lottery.
House of Representatives: The lower chamber of Congress: 435 members elected every two years, with more seats for bigger states. It is the chamber that can impeach officials.
Houthis: An armed movement in Yemen, aligned with Iran, that has controlled the capital Sanaa and the north of the country since 2014. Since late 2023 it has attacked ships in the Red Sea, disrupting a main trade route between Asia and Europe.
Humanitarian parole: Temporary permission to enter or stay in the US for urgent humanitarian reasons, granted case by case or under a program for one country. It can be cancelled and does not lead to a green card by itself.
ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement: the federal agency that arrests, detains and deports people who are in the US without legal status.
Immigration court: The courts that decide whether a person may stay in the US or must be deported. Their judges work for the Justice Department, there is no free lawyer, and the backlog runs to millions of cases.
Impeachment: A formal accusation against a top official, up to the president, voted by the House of Representatives. Only the Senate can then remove the official, with two-thirds of the votes.
Indictment: A formal criminal charge, usually approved by a grand jury. It is not a finding of guilt: the person is innocent until a court says otherwise.
Inflation and the CPI: How fast prices rise. In the US it is measured by the consumer price index, published monthly for a basket of goods and services. “Core” inflation leaves out food and energy, whose prices swing the most.
Injunction: A court order that stops a government or a company from doing something, or makes it act, while the case is being decided. A temporary restraining order is the quick, short version.
Inspector general: An independent watchdog inside a federal department. It checks spending, investigates waste, fraud and misconduct, and reports to Congress as well as to the department's head.
Justice Department: The federal ministry that prosecutes federal crimes. The FBI is part of it, and its head is the Attorney General.
Knesset: Israel's parliament: 120 seats shared out in proportion to each party's votes, so no party has ever had a majority alone. A government needs 61 members behind it, which is why several parties govern together.
MAGA: “Make America Great Again”: Donald Trump's slogan since his first presidential campaign, now also the name of his political movement and its supporters.
Mail-in voting: A ballot sent to the voter by mail and returned filled in. Each state decides who may vote this way and by when the ballot must arrive.
Medicaid: Public health coverage for people with low incomes, paid by the federal government and the states. The rules differ by state.
Medicare: Federal health insurance for people 65 and older and for some people with disabilities.
Midterm elections: US elections halfway through a president's four-year term. The whole House, a third of the Senate and many governors are elected. In 2026 Election Day is November 3.
Mortgage rates: The interest on a home loan. The usual US mortgage is fixed for 30 years, and its rate follows long-term government bonds more than the Fed's rate, so it does not always fall when the Fed cuts.
National Guard: Each state's military reserve. It normally answers to the governor, but the president can take command of it.
Naturalization: How a green-card holder becomes a US citizen: usually five years of residence (three if married to a citizen), an English and civics test, and an oath.
PAC and super PAC: A political action committee collects donations and gives them to candidates within legal limits. A super PAC may raise and spend unlimited money on ads, but may not give to candidates or coordinate with them.
Pardon: The president (for federal crimes) or a governor (for state crimes) forgives a convicted person and cancels the punishment.
Plea deal: The accused pleads guilty, usually to a lesser charge or for a lighter sentence, and there is no trial. Most criminal cases in the US end this way.
Polygraph (lie detector): A machine that records pulse, breathing and sweating while a person answers questions. Its results are not reliable enough for most US courts, but security agencies use it in hiring and leak investigations.
Primary election: A vote inside a party to choose its candidate for the general election.
Probation and parole: Two ways of serving a sentence outside prison under supervision: probation is ordered instead of prison, parole is early release from it. Breaking the conditions can mean prison.
Quarterly earnings: Public companies report their profits every three months. “Beat estimates” means profit came in above analysts' forecasts, “adjusted” leaves out one-off items, and “per share” is the profit divided by the number of shares.
Ranked-choice voting: Voters rank the candidates. If no one gets more than half, the last one is dropped and those votes go to each voter's next choice, until someone passes half.
Recession: A broad decline in the economy: output falls and unemployment rises. A common rule of thumb is two quarters in a row of shrinking GDP, but in the US the official call comes later from a committee of economists.
Redistricting and gerrymandering: States redraw their election districts, normally after each ten-year census. Gerrymandering is drawing the lines to help one party, by packing the other side's voters into a few districts or spreading them thin. Both parties do it where they can.
RNC, DNC and the campaign committees: Each party's national headquarters for organisation and fundraising: the RNC for Republicans, the DNC for Democrats. Separate committees fund Senate and House races.
Sanctions: Penalties one country imposes on another, or on companies and people: freezing assets, banning trade, cutting off banks. The aim is to change behaviour without war.
Sanctuary city: A city or state that limits how much its police and jails help federal immigration agents, for example by not holding people for ICE without a judge's warrant. There is no legal definition, and policies differ.
Second Amendment: The part of the US Constitution on “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”. The Supreme Court reads it as a personal right to own guns while allowing some limits, and where the limits lie is fought over in court.
Senate: The upper chamber of Congress: 100 senators, two per state, elected for six years. It confirms judges and ministers and approves treaties.
Shin Bet: Israel's domestic security service, also called Shabak, in charge of counterterrorism and counterintelligence at home and in the occupied territories. The Mossad works abroad.
SNAP (food stamps): Federal food aid: a monthly amount on a card that low-income families can spend on groceries.
Social Security: The federal program of retirement and disability benefits, paid for by a tax on wages.
Speaker of the House: The leader of the House of Representatives, chosen by its members, usually from the majority party. Second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
Special counsel: A prosecutor the Attorney General appoints to run a politically sensitive investigation at a distance from the department's leadership. The Attorney General can still overrule or dismiss him.
Special election: An election held outside the normal schedule to fill a seat that became vacant, for example after a death or resignation. The winner serves the rest of the term.
Strait of Hormuz: The narrow sea passage between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which tankers leave the Persian Gulf. About a fifth of the world's oil normally passes through it, so any threat there moves fuel prices worldwide.
Subpoena: A legal order to testify or hand over documents, issued by a court, a prosecutor or a congressional committee. Ignoring it can be punished.
Supreme Court: The highest US court: nine justices, appointed for life by the president with the Senate's approval. Its rulings bind every other court.
Swing state: A state where either party can win, so it often decides the election.
Tariff: A tax on imported goods, paid at the border by the importer, who usually passes some or all of it into prices. Governments use tariffs to protect their producers or to press the other side in a trade dispute.
Toss-up: A race so close that either side could win. In election forecasts it is the most uncertain rating.
TPS (Temporary Protected Status): Lets people from certain countries hit by war or disaster live and work in the US while the status is extended. On its own it does not lead to a green card.
Treasury Department: The federal finance ministry: it collects taxes through the IRS, pays the government's bills and borrows by selling bonds. The interest on those bonds steers mortgage and loan rates.
USCIS: The agency that decides applications for green cards, citizenship, work permits and other immigration requests.
Wall Street: A street in New York where the stock exchange stands. In the news it means US financial markets and the big banks and investment firms as a whole.
Whistleblower: An employee who reports wrongdoing inside their organisation to the authorities, Congress or the press. US law protects federal whistleblowers from being fired or punished for it.