mandate

Meaning

Noun

1. An official or authoritative command; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept; an authorization.
2. The order or authority to do something, as granted to a politician by the electorate.
3. (Canada) A period during which a government is in power.
4. (historical) An order by the League of Nations to a member nation to establish a government responsible for a conquered territory, as the colonies of Germany after World War I.
5. (historical) An order by the League of Nations to a member nation to establish a government responsible for a conquered territory, as the colonies of Germany after World War I.

Verb

1. To (officially) require someone to do something or act in a certain way, to give them the authority to do so; to command.
2. To make mandatory.
3. To administer or assign a territory to a nation under a mandate.
4. (Scotland, especially) To repeat, rehearse sermons or speeches aloud.

Synonyms

order

command

authorization

decree

commission

instruction

warrant

injunction

charge

behest

credentials

power of attorney

authorisation

dictate

edict

writ

assignment

proxy

requisition

commandment

law

mandatory

impose

constrain

thrust

rule

sanction

task

require

errand

authority

summons

ordinance

assert

prescript

colony

direction

coerce

prescription

mission

directive

dominion

brief

necessitate

bidding

force

govern

oblige

compel

control

Translations

mandato

mandat

mandato

Mandat

mandaat

mandato

mandat

volmacht

Auftrag

lastbrief

εντολή

opdracht

commission

διαταγή

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmændeɪt/

Etymology

First attested in 1521; borrowed from Latin mandātum (“a charge, order, command, commission, injunction”), substantivized from the neuter forms of mandātus, perfect passive participle of mandō (“to commit to one's charge, order, command, commission, literally to put into one's hands”) (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from manus (“hand”) + -dere (“to put”).
Sense 3 in Canadian English is likely a semantic loan from French mandat.

Sentences

The hospital had the mandate of caring for workmen on the bridge .