Upper house

An upper house, sometimes called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature (or one of three chambers of a tricameral legislature), the other chamber being the w:lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted power than the lower house. Examples of upper houses in countries include the United Kingdom's House of Lords, India's Rajya Sabha, Russia's w:Federal Council, Ireland's w:Seanada, Malaysia's w:Dewan Negara, Germany's Bundesrat and the w:United States Senate.

A legislature composed of only one house (and which therefore has neither an upper house nor a lower house) is described as unicameral.