authority definition

English

Alternative forms

• authourity, authoritie, autority, auctoritie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctorite, autorite (“authority, book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auctōritās (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”). For the presence of the h, compare the etymology of author.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈθɒɹəti/, /ɔːˈθɒɹɪti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈθɔɹəti/, /əˈθɑɹəti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ɒːˈtɒɹɪti/
• Hyphenation: au‧thor‧i‧ty
• Rhymes: -ɒɹɪti

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable, plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) Power or right to make or enforce rules or give orders; or a position having such power or right.

   Synonyms: command, rulership, sovereignty

   I have the authority to penalise the staff in my department, but not the authority to sack them.

   Vigilantes may have the power to nab criminals, but they lack the authority.

   She lost all respect and authority after turning up drunk at the meeting.

   Respect my authority!

   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i:

     SIR PETER. Very well! ma'am very well! so a husband is to have no influence, no authority?
     LADY TEAZLE. Authority! no, to be sure—if you wanted authority over me, you should have adopted me and not married me[:] I am sure you were old enough.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (plural) Persons, regarded collectively, who occupy official positions of power; police or law enforcement.

   Authorities say the suspect fled on foot.

   • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:

     The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.

   • 2013 August 10, “Legal highs: A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.

   • 2023 February 12, Daniel E. Slotnik, Amelia Nierenberg, “Your Monday Briefing: U.S. Destroys U.F.O.s”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 February 2023, Briefing:

     In China, authorities said they might soon shoot down an unidentified flying object over waters near the northern city of Rizhao, The South China Morning Post reported.

3. (countable) A reliable, definitive source of information on a subject.

   the world's foremost authority on orangutans

   My cheap dictionary is not the authority on word derivations.

   • 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

     To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

4. (uncountable) Status as a trustworthy source of information, reputation for mastery or expertise; or claim to such status or reputation.

   Synonyms: cred, gravitas

   Some thinkers regard appealing to authority as a logical fallacy; others regard it as a legitimate form of argument.

5. (uncountable) Official permission; authorisation to act in some capacity on behalf of a ruling entity.
   • 1964 July, “XP64: New Standard Carriage Project”, in Modern Railways, page 2:

     Authority to construct eight carriages, to test the new design in public service, had already been given; but of course complete working drawings had first to be prepared.

6. (countable) A government-owned agency that runs a revenue-generating activity for public benefit.

   New York Port Authority

   Chicago Transit Authority

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• have something on good authority

References

• “authority”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• authority in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “authority”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “authority”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.