mandate

American  

[man-deyt] / 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

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).

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

These characters know that the mandate is awful, but they’ve found screwed-up ways to live with it.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

The bill does not mandate the Angels — playing under a Los Angeles name in Anaheim’s city-owned stadium — revert to the Anaheim Angels name.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

The case has caused consternation in one of Africa's most robust democracies, with fears the country's military is significantly overreaching its mandate.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

"The Fifa president was democratically elected by Fifa's Member Associations and continues to serve with their mandate," Fifa said in its statement on Saturday.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Mom, in her way, had given me only one mandate for my year at Fullbrook: Make friends, James; you deserve them too.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

No country mandates that employers offer paid time off after the death of a pet.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

But Florida lawmakers haven’t gone along, and the mandates are still in place.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Standard procedure mandates that anyone suspected of smoke inhalation receives a bronchoscopic examination of their airways.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Changes to pension fund mandates and life-insurer trends have reduced their appetite for long-duration bonds.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 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

The National Park Service has mandated guardrails for the work, including the potential presence of “protected species observers” who would call off drilling if marine mammals are nearby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The government also got the right to appoint one independent director and mandated that a majority of the board would be U.S. citizens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

He thinks Doximity is in a strong position “as AI clinical evidence usage evolves from a bottoms-up, personal, physician-by-physician usage to a top-down, health system mandated tool usage strategy.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Lawmakers were denied entry when they tried to perform their mandated oversight duties at immigrant detention facilities.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

There are many reasons for the inclusion of diversity in education, not the least of which is a mandated curriculum in many school districts.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Last month, Bass issued orders mandating Lineage remove all food waste within 45 days and mobilizing resources to assist the community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 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

One point of mandating U.S. stock-market exposure with the funds is to give future generations buy-ins on America’s economy.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

President Donald Trump signed two directives on Monday mandating the creation of a research-grade quantum computer by 2028 and accelerating the government’s shift to post-quantum cryptography by 2031.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

That research, and other investigations like it, led to changes in air traffic regulations, mandating minimum distances between flight paths so as to prevent that kind of wake turbulence accident.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Related Words

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