You might see the word prerogative and start singing Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative:"

"Everybody's talkin' all this stuff about me.
Why don't they just let me live?
I don't need permission, make my own decisions.
That's my prerogative."

He's not wrong! As an adult, you can make your own decisions, and that's your prerogative. If you're famous, though... people are going to talk about you, and that's their prerogative. 

Let's look at prerogative and some of its close relatives: arrogant, surrogate, interrogate, and derogatory. At the heart of each of these words is the Latin rogare, meaning "to ask, to question, to request, or to propose."

The connection among all those words makes more sense when you consider their oldest, most literal meanings:

- To be arrogant, in the oldest sense, is to claim things for yourself. Now it just means "proud, boastful."

- A surrogate, in the oldest sense, is one who asks (or is asked) to go in the place of someone else. The sense of surrogate mothers is actually quite new, dating back only to 1972.

- To interrogate someone, in the oldest sense, is to ask them questions, directly between you and them, if I'm understanding it right. And hey, that one sort of matches the modern meaning!

- Something derogatory, in the oldest sense, proposes taking away someone's rights or authority. Now it just means "insulting, disrespectful."

- Finally, a prerogative, in the oldest sense, was the privilege of being asked to cast your vote before others got their chance. And now it just means "someone's personal right or privilege to do something: the kind that they're entitled to permanently, that cannot be re___ed."

Could you recall that last word? It means "called back," or less literally, "officially taken away."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

"Prerogative" has Latin bits that most literally mean "an asking before." (It comes from prea, "before," and rogare, "to ask.") In Latin, praerogativa meant "the privilege of getting to vote first, or some other special privilege."

In English, going back to the 1400s, "prerogative" has meant "a special privilege." And today we most often use it to mean "a certain person's privilege to make their own decision."

In other words, when something is your prerogative, it's your own rightful choice to do it, or to do it the way you want.

For example: 
- It's a cook's prerogative to make the meal as mild or spicy as they choose.
- It's an American's prerogative to follow their own religion or even no religion.
- If you've been given a gift, it's your prerogative to do what you want with that gift.
- And if you're in a job or a relationship that doesn't make you happy, it's your prerogative to leave.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "It's her prerogative to set the thermostat; she pays the bills."

Other forms: 

The plural is "prerogatives."

Very rarely, you might see "prerogative" used as an adjective (as in "prerogative powers") or a verb (as in "Each generation is prerogatived to view its own ideals and standards as final [Syracuse Herald]").

how to use it:

"Prerogative" is a formal, common word.

It's more specific than "right" or "privilege," so it's a good one to pick when you're talking specifically about the things that people can logically, legally, and rightfully choose to do.

You might say that something is your prerogative, or that it's your prerogative to do something. Or you might talk about people claiming, defending, invoking, or exercising their prerogatives.

examples:

"He was exercising the prerogative of a comfortable family member toward the rest of his immediate kin: I can make fun of you because I really love you." 
  — Bill Brantley, New York Times, 16 June 2011

"'We'll be telling our scariest stories for the next hour... By the way, the teachers get to tell their stories first. That's one of the prerogatives of being a teacher.' (Sometimes Mr. Cheney likes to impress us students with big words. In case you don't know what 'prerogative' means — and I didn't—it's a special right or privilege.)" 
   — Ann M. Martin, Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation, 1989

has this page helped you understand "prerogative"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "prerogative" without saying "right" or "privilege."

try it out:

From Justina Ireland's novel Ophie's Ghosts:

"Only Aunt Rose sat in that brown leather wing chair. It was her house, after all, and her prerogative, a phrase she used often when anyone wanted to sass her.

Ophie couldn't wait to grow up and have her own prerogative."

Can you relate to this? As a kid, did you feel eager for a time when you would have the prerogative to do something your own way? Or, as an adult now, do you enjoy exercising some particular prerogative?

Here's my example. Around seventh grade, I started dreaming of going to college someday, and I couldn't wait to have the prerogative to pick my own notebooks for each class. I had passionate opinions on color, size, brand, spiral vs. composition, and wide rule vs. college rule that were ignored, superseded by my middle school teachers' requirements. In college, and even now, I love exercising the prerogative to pick my own notebooks.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Idiom Savant."

Flex your facility with familiar phrases by quickly pairing them off with words closely associated in meaning.

For example, you might pair the idiom "a cat has nine lives" with the word "resilient;" "water under the bridge" with "inconsequential;" and "when it rains, it pours" with "proliferate."

Try these today:

Pair these idioms...

   1. the lights are on but nobody's home
   2. to each their own
   3. you can't teach an old dog new tricks
   4. you get what you pay for
   5. you're either with us or against us

With these words...

   A. brassbound
   B. commensurate
   C. idiosyncratic
   D. Manichaean
   E. stolid

To see the answers, scroll all the way down. 

review this word:

1. The near opposite of a PREROGATIVE could be

A. a VINDICATION: something that proves you were right all along.
B. a STIPULATION: something that you are required to do a certain way.
C. an OBFUSCATION: something that was made hard to understand on purpose, as if to hide it.

2. As an advice columnist for the Washington Post noted, "the prerogative was and remains fully" yours if _____.

A. you adopted a dog that now needs expensive medical care
B. you lied to excuse yourself from an important responsibility
C. you stopped volunteering when it stopped being meaningful for you

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. C From the game:    1. the lights are on but nobody's home: stolid    2. to each their own: idiosyncratic    3. you can't teach an old dog new tricks: brassbound    4. you get what you pay for: commensurate    5. you're either with us or against us: Manichaean Are your answers different? No worries, as long as you can explain the connections you see.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.