warrant
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warrant
- /ˈwɒɹənt/ UK
- /ˈwɔɹənt/ US
- /ˈwɑɹənt/ New York City, Philadelphia
Rhymes with -ɒɹənt
Where it comes from
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”).
The verb is derived from Middle English warrant, waranten (“to give protection; to protect, shield; to assure, pledge, promise; to guarantee”), from Anglo-Norman warantir, warandir, warentir, and Old Northern French warandir, warantir, variant forms of Old French guarantir (“to protect”) (modern French garantir), a Romance formation from the noun guarant: see above.
noun warrants · warraunt
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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.
Similar: allowance, mandate, sanction, authority, authorization, clearance, consent, leave, license, permission, permit, warrant
- Something that provides assurance or confirmation; a guarantee or proof. a warrant of authenticity; a warrant for success
- An order that serves as authorization; especially a voucher authorizing payment or receipt of money. And also be in enactid by the auctorite aforseid that no manꝰ [man's] clerke or clerkes or other parsone or parsones do wryte or make any maner of wryting warraunt or warrauntes, upon any maner gyfte or graunte made by the Kynges Highnes or by any other his Gracys offycers as aforsaide, [...]
- 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. But they [police juries] have no power to [...] issue promissory notes or warrants to cover funds which may be set aside for this purpose in future taxation without express authority from the supreme political power of the state.
- A judicial writ authorizing an officer to make a search, seizure, or arrest, or to execute a judgment. an arrest warrant issued by the court
- Ellipsis of warrant officer [Dave T.] Daniels also stated that many supported the idea of an officers indoctrination course, with the aim of preparing warrants for broader responsibility.
- A certificate of appointment given to a warrant officer. Several days passed away, and at length down came an order for [Harry] Bartlett to go on shore and take up his warrant for a sloop of war that was then round at Plymouth, to which place he was to make all haste to join. […] "Well, my man," said Sir Joseph [Sydney Yorke], in his usual deliberative ma
- A document certifying that a motor vehicle meets certain standards of mechanical soundness and safety; a warrant of fitness. Some years ago he had bought a motor vehicle with a warrant issued the same day only to find that the hand brake was not functioning properly and only one brake drum had any lining on it. He had recently heard of a similar case of a vehicle which had been issued with a warrant by the Christchurch Ci
- A defender, a protector. And whanne I ſawe her makynge ſuche dole / I asked her who ſlewe her lorde ¶ Syre ſhe ſaid the falſest knyght of the world now lyuyng and he is the mooſt vylayne that euer man herd ſpeke of / and his name is ſir Breuſe ſaunce pyte / thenne for pyte I made the damoyſel to lepe on her palfroy / and I
-
Underclay in a coal mine.
Similar: warren earth
verb warrants · warranting · warranted
- To protect, keep safe (from danger). [A]ll honeſt meanes for a man to warrant him-ſelfe from euills, are not onely tolerable, but commendable.
- To give (someone) an assurance or guarantee (of something); also, with a double object: to guarantee (someone something). Crato in a conſultation of his for a noble patient, tels him plainly, that if his Highneſſe will keepe but a good diet, hee will warrant him his former health.
- To guarantee (something) to be (of a specified quality, value, etc.). Tuc[ca]. [...] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; an
- To guarantee as being true; (colloquial) to believe strongly. That tree is going to fall, I’ll warrant.
- To authorize; to give (someone) sanction or warrant (to do something). I am warranted to search these premises fully.
- To justify; to give grounds for. Circumstances arose that warranted the use of lethal force.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: sanction, guarantee, warranty, endorsement, justify, imprimatur, countenance, guarantor, mandate, injunction, authorization, permission, guaranteed, judgement, judgment, behest
Translations
Every language
noun authorization or certification
| Português | autorização |
|---|---|
| Français | mandat |
| Deutsch | Vollmacht, Befugnis |
| Русский | полномо́чие polnomóčije, правомо́чие pravomóčije, о́рдер órder, манда́т mandát |
noun something that provides assurance or confirmation
| Español | garantía |
|---|---|
| Português | garantia |
| Français | garantie |
| Deutsch | Nachweis, Garantie, Garantieerklärung |
| Русский | гара́нтия garántija |
noun (finance) option to buy a security
| Español | cédula |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Optionsschein, Optionszertifikat |
| Русский | купо́н kupón, варра́нт varránt |
noun judicial writ
| Español | orden, orden judicial, mandamiento judicial, orden de allanamiento |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 영장 yeongjang |
| 日本語 | 令状 reijō |
| 中文 | 令狀 /令状 lìngzhuàng, 手令 shǒulìng |
| Português | mandado |
| Français | mandat |
| Deutsch | Befehl, richterliche Anordnung, Haftbefehl, Steckbrief |
| Ελληνικά | ένταλμα éntalma |
| Русский | о́рдер órder, прика́з prikáz |
| العربية | أَمْر ʔamr, مُذَكِّرَة muḏakkira |
noun (road transport) warrant of fitness
| Français | mandat de conformité |
|---|
noun (obsolete) protector or defender
| Deutsch | Beschützer |
|---|---|
| Русский | защи́тник zaščítnik |
verb to guarantee
| Español | garantizar, asegurar, avalar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 値する atai suru |
| 中文 | 保證 /保证 bǎozhèng |
| Português | garantir |
| Deutsch | garantieren |
| Русский | гаранти́ровать garantírovatʹ, руча́ться ručátʹsja, поручи́ться poručítʹsja |
Talk about this word "warrant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/warrant. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. warrant. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/warrant "warrant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/warrant.Cite this
@misc{warrant_2026,
title = {warrant},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/warrant},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
