authority

English

Alternative forms

• authourity (obsolete)

Etymology

Middle English autorite (“book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auctoritas (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɔːˈθɒɹəti/
• (US) IPA: /əˈθɑɹəti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable; plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) The power to enforce rules or give orders.

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

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

   Respect my authority!

2. (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     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.

3. (countable) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.

   The world's foremost authority on orangutans.

   • 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.

Derived terms

• moral authority

Related terms

• author
• authorization
• authoritarian

Translations

power to enforce rules or give orders

Afrikaans: gesag (af) Albanian: autoritet (sq) Arabic: سلطة (ar) (sulTa) f. Armenian: հեղինակություն (hy) (heġinakut’yun) Belarusian: ўлада (be) (ŭlada) Bulgarian: власт (bg), авторитет (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 權力 (cmn), 权力 (cmn) (quánlì), 權威 (cmn), 权威 (cmn) (quánwēi) Czech: autorita (cs) f. Danish: myndighed (da) Dutch: bevoegdheid (nl) f. Esperanto: aŭtoritato (eo) Ewe: ŋusẽ Finnish: auktoriteetti (fi), käskyvalta (fi), vaikutusvalta (fi) French: autorité (fr) f. German: Autorität (de) f. Greek: εξουσία (el) (exousia) f., αρχή (el) (archí) f. Hebrew: סמכות (samkhut) f.

Hungarian: felhatalmazás (hu), meghatalmazás (hu) Irish: údarás (ga) m. Italian: autorità (it) f. Japanese: 権力 (kenryoku); 権威 (ken'i) Korean: 권력 (gweonreok), 권능 (gweonneung) Kurdish: Sorani: ده‌سه‌ڵات (ku) (dasaLAt), به‌رده‌ستی (ku) (bardastee) Luxembourgish: Autoritéit (lb) f. Maltese: awtoritá Polish: autorytet (pl) m. Romanian: autoritate (ro) f. Russian: авторитет (ru) (avtoritét) m. Scottish Gaelic: ùghdarras (gd) m. Slovene: avtoriteta f. Spanish: autoridad (es) f. Swahili: mamlaka (sw) Telugu: అధికారము Ukrainian: влада (uk) f.

persons in command; specifically, government

Albanian: autoritet (sq) Bulgarian: власти (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 當局 (cmn), 当局 (cmn) (dāngjú) Czech: autorita (cs) f. Dutch: autoriteit f., mostly in plural: autoriteiten Esperanto: instanco (eo) Finnish: viranomaiset (fi) French: autorité (fr) f. German: Autorität (de) f.; Behörde (de) f. Greek: αρχές (el) (archés) f. pl. Hebrew: רשויות (rashuyot) f. pl. Hungarian: hatóság (hu)

Irish: údarás (ga) m. Italian: autorità (it) f. Japanese: 当局 (ja) (tōkyoku) Korean: 권력자 (gweonryeokja) Maltese: awtoritarju m., awtoritarja f. Polish: władza (pl) f. Romanian: autoritate (ro) f., mostly in plural: (ro) pl., autorități (ro) Russian: власть (ru) (vlast') m. Scottish Gaelic: ùghdarras (gd) m. Slovene: avtoriteta f. Swahili: mamlaka (sw) Ukrainian: влада (uk) f.

person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject

Albanian: autoritet (sq) Armenian: հեղինակություն (hy) (heġinakut’yun) Bulgarian: познавач (bg), авторитет (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 權威 (cmn), 权威 (cmn) (quánwēi) Czech: autorita (cs) f. Dutch: autoriteit (nl) f. Finnish: asiantuntija (fi) French: autorité (fr) f. German: Autorität (de) f. Greek: αυθεντία (el) (afthentía) f.

Hebrew: בר-סמכא (bar-samkha) m. Hungarian: tekintéy (hu), szaktekintély (hu) Italian: autorità (it) f. Japanese: 権威 (ja) (ken'i) Korean: 권위자 (gweonwija) Polish: autorytet m. Romanian: autoritate (ro) f. Russian: авторитет (ru) (avtoritét) m. Scottish Gaelic: ùghdarras (gd) m. Slovene: avtoriteta f.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Breton: aotrouniezh f., beli f.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: terrible · Tom · author · #859: authority · pleasant · forget · break