means A formal refusal that blocks a proposed action or decision, often held by one authority over a group's collective will.

from Straight from Latin: veto means "I forbid" — first person singular of vetare, "to prohibit." In the Roman Republic, the tribunes of the plebs could literally stand up and say "veto" to halt a magistrate's act, giving one voice the power to stop the machinery of the state. The word kept its bossy first-person flavor all the way into English, where it still means "I, personally, forbid this."