Warrant Meaning

/ˈwɒɹənt/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounAuthorization or certification; a sanction, as given by a superior.

nounSomething that provides assurance or confirmation; a guarantee or proof.

A judge will issue a search warrant only if there is probable cause.
The police were at Tom's door with a search warrant.
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The detective secured a ____ to arrest the suspect in the case.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police obtained a ____ to search the house for any evidence related to the recent several city crime today.

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.

"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." — 2007, Gill Perry, “Notes”, in Spectacular Flirtations: Viewing the Actress in British Art and Theatre, 1768–1820, New Haven, Conn.; London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, →ISBN, footnote 15, page 205, column 2:
"The brazen serpent, lifted up in the centre of Israel's camp, with the publick declaration of its use, was a sufficient warrant to every man, when bitten by a fiery serpent, to look unto it. But [...] if any looked without at all expecting a cure according to the word of the Lord, they must have perished; not for want of a warrant to believe; but because they did not submit to the wisdom and authority of God, or rely on his faithfulness and mercy, in this appointed way of preservation." — 1801, Thomas Scott, “Section II. Scriptural Proofs, that the Sinner Wants No Warrant for Believing in Christ, Except the Word of God.”, in The Warrant and Nature of Faith in Christ Considered, with Some Reference to the Various Controversies on that Subject, 2nd revised edition, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire: Printed by J. Seeley, sold by L. B. Seeley, […], →OCLC, page 23:
""None. But," said Francesca, hesitatingly, "will not Lord Avonleigh need some warrant for the truth of this history?"" — 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 163:
"He almost gives his failings as a warrant for his greatness." — 1987, Garry Wills, Newsweek, volume 110, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17, column 1:
"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, [...]" — 1535–1536, “Chapter XI. An Acte Conc̉nynge Clerkes of the Signet and Privie Seale. [27 Henry VIII., c. 11]”, in The Statutes, revised edition, volumes I (Henry III. to James II. A.D. 1235–6 – 1685), London: Printed by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, published 1870, →OCLC, page 458:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The detective secured a ____ to arrest the suspect in the case.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The police obtained a ____ to search the house for any evidence related to the recent several city crime today.

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