mandate

American  

[man-dayt] / ˈmæn deɪt /

noun

• mandates
  plural

1. 

   a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative.

   The president had a clear mandate to end the war.

2. a command from a superior court or official to a lower one.

   The appellate court resolved the appeal and issued a mandate to the district judge.

3. an authoritative order or command.

   a royal mandate.

   Synonyms:

   ruling, edict, injunction, decree, fiat

4. (in the League of Nations) a commission given to a nation to administer the government and affairs of a former Turkish territory or German colony.

5. a mandated territory or colony.

6. Roman Catholic Church. an order issued by the pope, especially one commanding the preferment of a certain person to a benefice.

7. Roman and Civil Law. a contract by which one engages gratuitously to perform services for another.

8. (in modern civil law) any contract by which a person undertakes to perform services for another.

9. Roman Law. an order or decree by the emperor, especially to governors of provinces.

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verb (used with object)

• mandates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mandated,
  past participle,  past
• mandating
  present participle

1. to authorize or decree (a particular action), as by the enactment of law.

   The state legislature mandated an increase in the minimum wage.

2. to order or require; make mandatory.

   to mandate sweeping changes in the election process.

3. to consign (a territory, colony, etc.) to the charge of a particular nation under a mandate.

mandate British  

noun

1. an official or authoritative instruction or command

2. politics the support or commission given to a government and its policies or an elected representative and his policies through an electoral victory

3. Also called: mandated territory. (often capital) (formerly) any of the territories under the trusteeship of the League of Nations administered by one of its member states

4. 1. Roman law a contract by which one person commissions another to act for him gratuitously and the other accepts the commission

   2. contract law a contract of bailment under which the party entrusted with goods undertakes to perform gratuitously some service in respect of such goods

   3. Scots law a contract by which a person is engaged to act in the management of the affairs of another

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verb

1. international law to assign (territory) to a nation under a mandate

2. to delegate authority to

3. obsolete to give a command to

mandate Cultural  

1. A command or an expression of a desire, especially by a group of voters for a political program. Politicians elected in landslide victories often claim that their policies have received a mandate from the voters.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mandator
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mandates
  plural

Participles

• mandating
  present
• mandated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mandate
  simple
• mandates
  simple
• have mandated
  perfect
• has mandated
  perfect
• am mandating
  progressive
• are mandating
  progressive
• is mandating
  progressive
• have been mandating
  perfect progressive
• has been mandating
  perfect progressive

Past

• mandated
  simple
• had mandated
  perfect
• was mandating
  progressive
• were mandating
  progressive
• had been mandating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mandate
  simple
• will have mandated
  perfect
• will be mandating
  progressive
• will have been mandating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of mandate

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin mandātum, noun use of neuter of mandātus, past participle of mandāre “to commission,” literally, “to give into (someone's) hand”; equivalent to manus manus + -dere “to put” (combining form; see do ¹).

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Explanation

A mandate is an official command or a go-ahead. When a politician wins an election by a wide margin, that's a mandate to implement her ideas. A mandate gives authority. If the government gives schools a mandate to test more, then the schools had better give more tests. People who work for the Peace Corps have a mandate to help various countries with things like getting clean drinking water. A politician who believes in higher taxes and then gets elected considers that a mandate to raise taxes. When you have a mandate, it's like a ticket to get something done.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mandate mandates mandated mandating

Facing risks at home and abroad, and tasked with an expanded mandate that includes growth, the job of being BI governor has rarely looked more difficult.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The council extended the mandate of its independent special rapporteur on rights in Afghanistan for another year.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

A failure to mandate safeguards is “completely irresponsible.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Reaching the stage at which supervisors mandate terms is rare.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

It was a mandate to seek out young people whose best qualities might otherwise be overlooked and to give them a chance to do something meaningful.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

It mandates that immigrant and other detainees are afforded privacy, safety, hygienic living conditions and other rights.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

The proposal defines a meaningful benchmark as “an investment, strategy, index, or other comparator that has similar mandates, strategies, objectives, and risks.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

They are both members of the north Atlantic defence alliance, which mandates members to defend a fellow member-nation should they be attacked.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

These mandates have helped draw growing quantities of domestic soybean oil toward biomass-based diesel production.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Referring to them as sacred might feel uncomfortable, because the First Amendment of the Constitution tells us that this nation legally mandates separation of church and state.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Every one of the decisions that she made, we made sure that there was a smart, strategic, security mandated argument for doing what she was doing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

These may be sold at price discounts as managers of longer-term funds are forced to sell before maturity in order to keep their portfolios’ durations above their own mandated levels.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

Governing body the FIA said this was caused by a combination of the weather, low speed, the mandated wet-weather energy management settings and the circuit layout.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

The agency said its available funding had fallen from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion in 2025, while the number of people it is mandated to protect is hovering around historically high levels.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

They walked nonchalantly and talked tough, explaining how the hour-long recreation period was mandated by the courts.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

They have also tried to stop poorly equipped climbers from summitting and mandating that visitors spend at least one night at one of the huts on the trails.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

Four states — California, Delaware, Colorado and Hawaii — are now mandating that students take a semester-long personal-finance course before graduating.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

In July, a federal judge ordered ICE to institute sweeping changes at the Adelanto center, mandating improvements in the provision of water, food, sanitation and medical care.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

It said this includes mandating tech firms ban those who post scams and prevent them from creating new accounts, as well as those who impersonate real businesses.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

A final consideration mandating complex organization for large societies has to do with population densities.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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Related Words

• authorization
• command
• decree
• directive
• injunction
• instruction
• sanction

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