warrant
Forms
- Plural
- warrants
- present (v1)
- warrant
- past (v2)
- warranted
- past participle (v3)
- warranted
- present participle
- warranting
- 3rd person singular
- warrants
Definitions
1.Authorization or certification; a sanction, as given by a superior.
- Two years after the first appearance on the London stage by an English actress, a royal warrant of 1660 decreed that women rather than boys were to play all female roles.
2.Something that provides assurance or confirmation; a guarantee or proof.
- He almost gives his failings as a warrant for his greatness.
- "None. But," said Francesca, hesitatingly, "will not Lord Avonleigh need some warrant for the truth of this history?"
3.An order that serves as authorization; especially a voucher authorizing payment or receipt of money.
4.An option, usually issued together with another security and with a term at issue greater than a year, to buy other securities of the issuer.
1.To guarantee (something) to be (of a specified quality, value, etc.).
2.To guarantee as being true; (colloquial) to believe strongly.
- That tree is going to fall, I’ll warrant.
3.To justify; to give grounds for.
- Circumstances arose that warranted the use of lethal force.
- The tunnel, like the other engineering works on the line, was built to take two tracks, but traffic has never warranted a second.
- The fact, however, that astonishment has been expressed at the clamor described, warrants a review of incidents which precipitated the events referred to.
4.To authorize; to give (someone) sanction or warrant (to do something).
- I am warranted to search these premises fully.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4996
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English warant (“protector; guard, shield, protection”), from Anglo-Norman warrant, Old Northern French warant, warand, a variant of Old French guarant, garant, garand (“assurance, guarantee; authorization, permission; protector; protection, safety”) (modern French garant), from Frankish *warand, present participle of *warjan (“to fend off; to stop, thwart”). The word is cognate with Old High German werento (“guarantor”).