mandate

See also: Mandate, mandaté, and man date

English

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.deɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

mandate (plural mandates)

1. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) An official or authoritative command; an order or injunction; a commission; a judicial precept.
   • 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 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. A papal rescript.
4. (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.

Translations

official command

• 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)

• Dutch: mandaat (nl)
• Esperanto: mandato (eo)
• Finnish: mandaatti (fi), valtuutus (fi), valtakirja (fi)
• French: mandat (fr) m
• German: Mandat (de) n
• 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
• Malay: Mandat
• Persian: دستور‎ (fa) (dastur)
• Portuguese: mandado (pt) m
• Russian: манда́т (ru) m (mandát), полномо́чие (ru) n (polnomóčije)
• Spanish: mandato (es) m
• Turkish: manda (tr)

the authority to do something or to act

• Dutch: mandaat (nl)
• Esperanto: mandato (eo)

• Maori: mana whakahaere

Verb

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

1. to authorize
2. to make mandatory

Derived terms

• mandatary
• mandator
• mandatory

 

Translations

authorize

• Chinese:

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

• Finnish: valtuuttaa (fi)

• French: autoriser (fr)
• Russian: уполномо́чивать (ru) (upolnomóčivatʹ), авторизова́ть (ru) (avtorizovátʹ), одобря́ть (ru) (odobrjátʹ)

Further reading

• mandate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mandate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: mandatent, mandates

Verb

mandate

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

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Italian

Noun

mandate f

1. plural of mandata

Verb

mandate

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

Anagrams

• damante

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Latin

Participle

mandāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mandātus

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Spanish

Verb

mandate

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of mandatar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of mandatar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of mandatar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of mandatar.