referendum

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The submission of a proposed public measure or actual statute to a direct popular vote.
• noun Such a vote.
• noun A note from a diplomat to the diplomat's government requesting instructions.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A note from a diplomatic agent addressed to his government, asking for instructions on particular matters.
• noun In Switzerland, the right of the people to decide on certain laws or measures which have been passed by the legislative body.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A diplomatic agent's note asking for instructions from his government concerning a particular matter or point.
• noun The right to approve or reject by popular vote a meassure passed upon by a legislature.
• noun The principle or practice of referring measures passed upon by the legislative body to the body of voters, or electorate, for approval or rejection, as in the Swiss cantons (except Freiburg) and in various local governments in the United States, and also in the local option laws, etc.; also, the right to so approve or reject laws, or the vote by which this is done. Referendum is distinguished from the mandate, or instruction of representatives by the people, from direct government by the people, in which they initiate and make the laws by direct action without representation, and from a plebiscite, or popular vote taken on any measure proposed by a person or body having the initiative but not constituting a representative or constituent body.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A direct popular vote on a proposed law or constitutional amendment
• noun A note from a diplomat to his government requesting instructions

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a legislative act is referred for final approval to a popular vote by the electorate