Prerogative

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. An exclusive or peculiar privilege; prior and indefeasible right; fundamental and essential possession; -- used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise. The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination. I. Taylor. An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative. Macaulay.

2. Precedence; preëminence; first rank. [Obs.] Then give me leave to have prerogative. Shak.

Synonyms: Privilege; right. See Privilege.