select committee

/səˌlɛkt kəˌmɪdi/

Other forms: select committees

In the U.S. Congress, a select committee is a temporary group that's formed to work on a specific task. Select committees investigated the assassinations of both President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Even though select (or "special") committees are temporary by definition, as opposed to permanent standing committees, they sometimes end up being useful on a long-term basis. The House and Senate each have a Select Committee on Intelligence, both of which are seen as essential to security in the U.S. and are treated as permanent. Select here means "carefully chosen," from a Latin root meaning "to single out or separate."

Definitions of select committee

1. noun

   a parliamentary committee appointed for some special purpose
   type of:

   commission, committee

   a special group delegated to consider some matter