WASHINGTON — Senators will still be able to talk and talk and talk, though for not quite as long as they have grown accustomed to. Legislation will still be mired in mucky procedural delays, though there will be fewer of them to exploit. And there is a glimmer of hope that rank-and-file senators will actually be able to do what they were elected to do: shape legislation.

Under new rules approved overwhelmingly by the Senate on Thursday, Democrats and Republicans agreed to take some modest steps to limit the filibuster and help break the gridlock that has rendered the modern Congress ineffective and inefficient. The measures passed in two separate votes, one 78 to 16, the other 86 to 9.

Senators who rarely reach across the aisle on much of anything these days found common ground in their disillusionment and decided on a compromise in which both parties will give something up.

The end result preserved one of the more peculiar aspects of the Senate. The majority will still not have absolute rule. The minority — currently Republican — will preserve its ability to force a supermajority of 60 votes to advance bills.