MEANING
1. Official authority to act, often granted through an election, ruling, or other formal decision.
2. An official requirement to do something, or the act of making something compulsory.
3. The period during which an elected person or government is authorized to hold office.
Use it for
describing what voters have authorized; distinguishing permission from a compulsory duty; questioning whether a decision falls within granted authoritySeparates permission to act, a binding requirement, an office-holder’s term, and the historical territory sense. Writing functions: Argumentation, Significance / Scope.
Words that belong together
- an electoral mandate
- a mandate to govern
- mandate someone to negotiate
On the page
Winning office did not give the administration an unlimited mandate to change every institution.
The assembly mandated a small delegation to negotiate, but not to sign a final agreement.
The policy mandates disclosure of the funding source.
A reporting mandate may increase transparency without ensuring that readers can interpret the figures.
The reforms were introduced during the administration’s first mandate.
Word forms
- Base
- mandate
- Past tense
- mandated
- Past participle
- mandated
- Present participle
- mandating
Usage notes
Noun and verb. Noun plural mandates; verb mandates, mandated, mandated, mandating. Future will mandate. Distinguish authorization from obligation: mandate someone to act can authorize; mandate an action often requires it. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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