mandate

See also: Mandate, mandaté, and man date

English

Etymology 1

Noun is borrowed from Latin mandātum (“a charge, order, command, commission, injunction”), neut of. mandātus, past participle of mandāre (“to commit to one's charge, order, command, commission, literally to put into one's hands”), from manus (“hand”) + dare (“to put”). Compare command, commend, demand, remand.

The verb is from the noun.

Pronunciation

Noun

A map showing Middle Eastern and African mandates.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmændeɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Verb

• IPA^(key): /ˈmændeɪt/, /mænˈdeɪt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Noun

mandate (plural mandates)

1. An official or authoritative command; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept; an authorization.
   • 2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50”, in The Observer‎^[1]:

     Instead, May, more sheep than shepherd, has feebly allowed herself to be driven ever further towards an extreme, inflexible, take-it-or-leave-it stance for which she has neither mandate nor credible grounds.

2. (politics) The order or authority to do something, as granted to a politician by the electorate.
   • 2002, Leroy G. Dorsey, The Presidency and Rhetorical Leadership, Texas A&M University Press (→ISBN), page 30

     John Tyler and James K. Polk both regarded the election results as a mandate for the annexation of Texas.

3. (Canada) A period during which a government is in power.
   • 2000 October 6, John Richards, “Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1919-2000”, in The Globe and Mail‎^[2]:

     Throughout his last mandate, from 1980 to 1984, Mr. Trudeau insisted that we see ourselves solely as Canadians, that we set aside the historic compromises that underlie Canada as a federation.

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.
   1. (historical) Such a territory.

Translations

official command

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: заповед (bg) f (zapoved), нареждане (bg) n (nareždane)
• Catalan: mandat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (authorisation) 授權 (zh), 授权 (zh) (shòuquán), (power; right; privilege) 權利 (zh), 权利 (zh) (quánlì), (order; command) 命令 (zh) (mìnglìng)

• Czech: mandát sg or m
• Dutch: mandaat (nl)
• Esperanto: mandato (eo)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: mandaatti (fi), valtuutus (fi), valtakirja (fi)
• French: mandat (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Mandat (de) n

• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: mandat (id)
• Italian: mandato (it) m
• Japanese: 委任 (ja) (いにん, inin), 指図 (ja) (さしず, sashizu)
• Latin: mandātum n
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: Mandat
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: دستور‎ (fa) (dastur), حکم‎ (fa) (hokm)
• Portuguese: mandado (pt) m
• Russian: манда́т (ru) m (mandát), полномо́чие (ru) n (polnomóčije)
• Spanish: mandato (es) m
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: manda (tr)
• Ukrainian: манда́т m (mandát)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

the authority to do something or to act

• Bulgarian: мандат (bg) m (mandat)
• Dutch: mandaat (nl)
• Esperanto: mandato (eo)
• German: Ermächtigung (de) f, Legitimation (de) f

• Indonesian: mandat (id)
• Maori: mana whakahaere
• Ukrainian: манда́т m (mandát)

Verb

mandate (third-person singular simple present mandates, present participle mandating, simple past and past participle mandated)

1. (Discuss⁽⁺⁾ this sense) To authorize.
2. To make mandatory.

Derived terms

• mandatary
• mandatee
• mandator
• mandatory

 

Translations

authorize

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 授權 (zh), 授权 (zh) (shòuquán)

• Czech: pověřit
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: valtuuttaa (fi)

• French: autoriser (fr)
• German: ermächtigen (de), bevollmächtigen (de), autorisieren (de), legitimieren (de)
• Italian: autorizzare (it)
• Russian: уполномо́чивать (ru) (upolnomóčivatʹ), авторизова́ть (ru) (avtorizovátʹ), одобря́ть (ru) (odobrjátʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Etymology 2

From man +‎ date.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.deɪt/

Noun

mandate (plural mandates)

1. (uncommon) Alternative form of man date: a date between two men.
   • 2007 September 7', Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 3:

     Moss: Oh, he's long gone, although Roy's got a mandate with him.
     Roy: It is not a mandate. I am not a man-woman. We are not married. I am not your wife!

References

• mandate at OneLook Dictionary Search
• mandate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• mandate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: mandatent, mandates

Verb

mandate

1. inflection of mandater:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

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Italian

Noun

mandate f

1. plural of mandata

Verb

mandate

1. inflection of mandare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
   3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

• Damante, damante

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Latin

Participle

mandāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mandātus

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Spanish

Verb

mandate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of mandar combined with te
2. inflection of mandatar:
   1. first-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. third-person singular imperative