checks and balances

checks and balances

Rules within a power structure that keep one person or section from becoming excessively powerful. The founders created three separate branches of government to act as a system of checks and balances.
See also: and, balance, check
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

checks and balances

a system, as in the U.S. Constitution, where power is shared between the various branches of government. The newspaper editor claimed that the system of checks and balances built into our Constitution has been subverted by party politics.
See also: and, balance, check
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

checks and balances

System whereby each branch of an organization can limit the powers of the other branches, as in The union has used a system of checks and balances to prevent any large local from dominating its policies . This system was enacted through the Constitution of the United States in order to prevent any of its three branches from dominating the Federal government. The term is occasionally transferred to other mechanisms for balancing power.
See also: and, balance, check
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

checks and balances

Checks and balances are a way of organizing a system or organization so that no part of it has too much influence over the others. There are a whole lot of checks and balances that make it obvious if people are dishonest. A military court has few of the checks and balances of a civil court.
See also: and, balance, check
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

ˌchecks and ˈbalances

rules that are designed to control the amount of power, especially political power, that one person or group has: These are the proposals for introducing a new system of checks and balances into the boardrooms of UK companies.
See also: and, balance, check
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • eat (one) alive
  • eat alive
  • eat somebody alive
  • eat someone alive
  • drag on
  • drag on (someone or something)
  • beset
  • beset with
  • beset with (something)
  • sipster