warrant
[wawr-uh nt, wor-]
- authorization, sanction, or justification.
- something that serves to give reliable or formal assurance of something; guarantee, pledge, or security.
- something considered as having the force of a guarantee or as being positive assurance of a thing: The cavalry and artillery were considered sure warrants of success.
- a writing or document certifying or authorizing something, as a receipt, license, or commission.
- Law. an instrument, issued by a magistrate, authorizing an officer to make an arrest, seize property, make a search, or carry a judgment into execution.
- the certificate of authority or appointment issued to an officer of the armed forces below the rank of a commissioned officer.
- a warehouse receipt.
- a written authorization for the payment or receipt of money: a treasury warrant.
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- to give authority to; authorize.
- to give reason or sanction for; account for: The circumstances warrant such measures.
- to give one's word for; vouch for (often used with a clause to emphasize something asserted): I'll warrant he did!
- to give a formal assurance, or a guarantee or promise, to or for; guarantee: to warrant someone honorable treatment; to warrant payment; to warrant safe delivery.
- to guarantee the quantity, quality, and other representations of (an article, product, etc.), as to a purchaser.
- to guarantee or secure title to (the purchaser of goods); assure indemnification against loss to.
- Law. to guarantee title of an estate or other granted property (to a grantee).
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Origin of warrant
1175–1225; (noun) Middle English warant < Anglo-French; Old French guarant < Germanic; compare Middle Low German warend, -ent warranty, noun use of present participle of waren to warrant; (v.) Middle English < Anglo-French warantir; Old French g(u)arantir, derivative of guarant; see guaranty
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for warranted
Contemporary Examples
Until these nations can provide basic health care, the fear is warranted.
Isaacs says that the epidemic is inciting panic worldwide that, in his opinion, may soon be warranted.
After advising against travel to the affected areas, Frieden said increased caution is warranted.
Were they keeping a list instead of getting their work done, perhaps discipline is warranted.
Governments at all levels will face short-term costs, of course, but the economic fear of immigrants has never been warranted.
These Undocumented Teens Outsmarted MIT—and Still Cant Get Real Jobs in AmericaJonathan Alter
July 14, 2014
Historical Examples
All this warranted my boy in being proud of his name, and, so to speak, living up to it.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Even sheer, fine handkerchiefs, warranted every thread linen!
Four Girls and a CompactAnnie Hamilton Donnell
You may have been warranted; you may not have been; I can't say.
Barnaby RudgeCharles Dickens
They couldn't be warranted sound: but then, as Tony said, what horse could?
The Macdermots of BallycloranAnthony Trollope
“Whether you were warranted or not is, of course, another matter,” said Nasmyth.
The Greater PowerHarold Bindloss
warrant
- anything that gives authority for an action or decision; authorization; sanction
- a document that certifies or guarantees, such as a receipt for goods stored in a warehouse, a licence, or a commission
- law an authorization issued by a magistrate or other official allowing a constable or other officer to search or seize property, arrest a person, or perform some other specified act
- (in certain armed services) the official authority for the appointment of warrant officers
- a security that functions as a stock option by giving the owner the right to buy ordinary shares in a company at a specified date, often at a specified price
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- to guarantee the quality, condition, etc, of (something)
- to give authority or power to
- to attest to or assure the character, worthiness, etc, of
- to guarantee (a purchaser of merchandise) against loss of, damage to, or misrepresentation concerning the merchandise
- law to guarantee (the title to an estate or other property)
- to declare boldly and confidently
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Word Origin
C13: from Anglo-French warrant, variant of Old French guarant, from guarantir to guarantee, of Germanic origin; compare guaranty
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for warranted
warrant
v.
late 13c., "to keep safe from danger," from Old North French warantir (Old French garantir), from warant (see warrant (n.)).
Meaning "to guarantee to be of quality" is attested from late 14c.; sense of "to guarantee as true" is recorded from c.1300. Related: Warranted; warranting.
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warrant
n.
early 13c., "protector, defender," from Old North French warant (Old French garant), from Frankish *warand (cf. Old High German weren "to authorize, warrant," German gewähren "to grant"), from Proto-Germanic *war- "to warn, guard, protect," perhaps from PIE root *wer- "to cover" (cf. Latin vereri "to observe with awe, revere, respect, fear;" Greek ouros "watchman," horan "to see;" Hittite werite- "to see;" see weir).
Sense evolved via notion of "permission from a superior which protects one from blame or responsibility" (c.1300) to "document conveying authority" (1510s). A warrant officer in the military is one who holds office by warrant, rather than by commission.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with warranted
warrant
see sign one's own death warrant.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.