notary
Americannoun
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notaries
plural
noun
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a notary public
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(formerly) a clerk licensed to prepare legal documents
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archaic a clerk or secretary
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of notary
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin notārius “clerk,” from not(āre) “to mark” ( see note) + -ārius -ary
Explanation
A notary is someone with the legal power to witness signatures, verify documents, and take depositions. A notary — also known as a notary public — is a person who has been licensed by a state to perform a few legal functions. The most common one is to witness signatures. For many types of paperwork, you need a notary to be present as you sign, which makes the paperwork official. Notaries also have the power to verify various types of documents and are allowed to take depositions (statements) in some legal situations.
Vocabulary lists containing notary
"Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began" by Art Spiegelman
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The Mona Lisa Vanishes
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The Voyage of the Frog
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bardo told him to get those filled out immediately and use a mobile notary to sign them before they left.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Europe’s public considered the artist, a bourgeois son of a Normandy notary, to be the rear guard of the avant-garde.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
In many Latin American countries, a public notary is the equivalent of a lawyer, and notario fraudsters rely on this mistranslation to fake credentials.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
He’s a mobile notary and loan signing agent, a writer and performer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026
She did so on April 18, 1893, with Holmes himself serving as notary.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
A network of accountants, service providers and public notaries allegedly supported the suspects.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2024
Similarly, there’s no shortage of “notarios” — notary publics — claiming the ability to advise immigrants on legal matters, as notaries are trained to do in Latin America, Vimo said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2023
Names of the pharmacies that provide the drugs will not be advertized publicly, and will only be disclosed to the lawyers and notaries who receive the notifications.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
But the activists are now organizing under the banner "Precinct First" and holding regular events, complete with notaries, to sign people up to run for precinct delegate positions.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2021
It’s also a time of great wealth, and notaries like Ser Piero were at the center of it.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
