Home British & World English mandate

Definition of mandate in English:

mandate

noun

  • 1An official order or commission to do something.

    ‘a mandate to seek the release of political prisoners’
    • ‘Even some local trade officials ignored the new mandates to recruit women.’
    • ‘Although my official mandate was to study Pakistani farmers, I was obliged to give equal attention to foresters.’
    • ‘The Human Rights Commission has the mandate to receive and investigate allegations of discrimination.’
    • ‘Cheng said the party had given the press a mandate to monitor local officials.’
    • ‘None of the 10 members of ASEAN sent officials with a mandate to commit governments to any trade pacts.’
    • ‘In October 2001, the EU Council of Ministers gave the commission a mandate to negotiate a revision of the convention.’
    • ‘How can it be free to seek the truth when its mandate is spelled out in the executive order that the president signed?’
    • ‘These are not proclamations, orders, or mandates.’
    • ‘In the next 12 weeks, carry out each of these mandates in the order you've arranged them.’
    • ‘Further, we demand a repeal of all previous executive orders and administrative mandates.’
    • ‘He said that the committee had received a clear mandate from the meeting to use all means at its disposal to force him to reverse his decision.’
    • ‘Last Sunday, he officially handed them the mandate to form a government.’
    • ‘The politicians promised to elevate this to the highest levels within Government and to seek a mandate as suggested.’
    • ‘However, we will not accept one job cut or any reduction in equipment and would seek a mandate for strike action should that be proposed.’
    • ‘‘The commission will decide how or whether the mandate will be addressed,’ he said.’
    • ‘Included in this is the mandate to the Prime Minister to set up an Anti-corruption Commission as speedily as possible.’
    • ‘He said he stressed to Mr Mandelson that a key issue for Ireland is the mandate given to the Commission by the EU member states in these negotiations.’
    • ‘Manitoba Conservation has the mandate to inspect all manure storage structures yearly and order any necessary repairs.’
    • ‘Well, let me ask you about that, because you're being very clear that there must be two separate appeals to the Security Council for a mandate.’
    • ‘The Festival has a mandate to deliver a program of international standing and excellence and this must be its priority.’
    instruction, directive, direction, decree, command, order, injunction, edict, charge, commission, bidding, warrant, ruling, ordinance, law, statute, fiat
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    1. 1.1Law A commission by which a party is entrusted to perform a service, especially without payment and with indemnity against loss by that party.
      • ‘In two of the four cases the solicitors received signed mandates from the purported owners for the funds to be telegraphically transferred to a third party.’
      • ‘In carrying out its mandate, the Commission receives, analyses, and investigates individual petitions alleging violations of human rights.’
      • ‘A Call Center for tourist information is in the works, and tourist police have a mandate to provide service and protection for visitors.’
      • ‘Numerous service coverage mandates have also been introduced by some legislatures.’
      • ‘The commission will be obliged to refer to any other agencies where a case or a situation is presented to it that is not the direct mandate of the commission.’
    2. 1.2A written authorization enabling someone to carry out transactions on another's bank account.
      • ‘A forged cheque is not a valid mandate, and the bank cannot debit the customer's account.’
      • ‘If that were right one would expect to see wives being independently advised before signing a typical mandate for a joint account.’
      • ‘He showed his value pretty quickly, pointing out that banks must have a legal mandate to debit someone's account.’
      • ‘When you fill in the application form for a joint account it will include a mandate giving you both the authority to access the account and the money in it.’
      • ‘If you have a friend or relative you completely trust, ask your bank to provide them with a third-party mandate.’
    3. 1.3historical A commission from the League of Nations to a member state to administer a territory.
      ‘the end of the British mandate in Palestine’
      • ‘For the next 25 years, Syria was governed by French colonial administrators under a mandate from the League of Nations.’
      • ‘Another category of dependent imperial territory was formed by League of Nations mandates.’
      • ‘After the war, Japan continued to rule the islands under a mandate from the League of Nations.’
      • ‘After the war the League of Nations gave Britain, Australia, and New Zealand a trustee mandate over the territory.’
      • ‘Britain extracted a mandate to run it from the League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations.’

  • 2The authority to carry out a policy, regarded as given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election.

    ‘he called an election to seek a mandate for his policies’
    • ‘Newly elected ministers invariably choose to regard an election victory as conferring a mandate on their policies.’
    • ‘Perhaps politicians should seek a new mandate from the electorate if they are unable to fulfil their promises.’
    • ‘The ones who win and form the next government would thus have the mandate to pursue their policies and programmes.’
    • ‘Neither side of the policy divide believes that it can win a popular mandate for its policies and fight things out in an open and honest form.’
    • ‘No president for more than a century has assumed office with less of a popular mandate for his policies.’
    • ‘We will therefore go back to the electorate to renew our mandate with confidence.’
    • ‘The temptation must be enormous to ask the electorate for a fresh mandate, now that the latest opinion polls show he has enough support to be returned to power.’
    • ‘What's more, he will claim a mandate for every single policy he comes up with, even if they didn't appear in the election campaign.’
    • ‘Despite their mandate to serve their electorate, our representatives at the Commons are notoriously difficult to get hold of.’
    • ‘That's the kind of mandate election authorities need to do their job.’
    • ‘It simply provides that someone who changes his or her status in that kind of way needs to go and get a fresh mandate from the electorate.’
    • ‘He lacks the freedom that a directly elected mayor gains from their direct relationship with the electorate and their clear mandate.’
    • ‘In a general sense, therefore, action has not been linked to any policy mandate from the public.’
    • ‘He might take it as a national mandate to pursue the policy of truculent unilateralism.’
    • ‘Hopkins said the election was a mandate from the voters.’
    • ‘The rebels haven't even got a mandate through an election.’
    • ‘If the present government cannot maintain the integrity of the country then it should dissolve itself and call an election so that mandates are clear.’
    • ‘He has made clear that he is seeking a personal and a political mandate in this election.’
    • ‘Some even felt that in such a situation, the only honourable course would be for the government to call an election to re-establish a mandate for a change in course.’
    • ‘The public has grumbled to a point where it has lost faith in the Authority because of its failure to carry out its mandate.’
    authority, approval, acceptance, ratification, endorsement
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    1. 2.1Canadian A period during which a government is in power.
      ‘the last mandate of Trudeau, from 1980 to 1984, was a remarkable chapter in Canadian history’
      • ‘Third parties may not always directly influence an election, but they do set the tone for what is discussed and start the next mandate off on a particular foot.’
      • ‘In August 2002, he announced that he would not seek a fourth mandate, but would serve until 2004.’

verb

[with object]

  • 1Give (someone) authority to act in a certain way.

    ‘the rightful king was mandated and sanctioned by God’
    • ‘Having made this judgment, the Security Council may then mandate the US and its allies to use force in order to remove him.’
    • ‘With the money, it will acquire and restructure more mills, as mandated by the State Council.’
    • ‘Well, the problem here is, the ballot initiatives mandate something like 70 percent of the spending in the budget.’
    • ‘The program was mandated to render assistance to forest occupants in developing and improving the ecological health of open and denuded forestlands by planting a combination of agricultural crops and tree species.’
    authorize, commission, depute, appoint, nominate, name, mandate, empower, charge, choose, select, designate, elect
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    1. 1.1Require (something) to be done; make mandatory.
      ‘the government began mandating better car safety’
      • ‘Current Army requirements mandate change in order to move into the future.’
      • ‘For such patients, it may be unrealistic to mandate abstinence as a requirement for treatment.’
      • ‘The federal government has begun mandating it, and they insist that their architects earn at least a bronze rating.’
      • ‘In the states that began to mandate paternity leave, a slightly greater number of fathers utilized it.’
      • ‘Arkansas recently became the first to mandate liability insurance as a requirement for obtaining a certificate.’
      • ‘Guatemala's government is about to mandate a catch-and-release policy, but most boats already do so.’
      • ‘The law doesn't allow judges to deny such requests and it mandates payment for investigators and expert witnesses.’
      • ‘The law would mandate children from kindergarten to second grade be taught Spanish at the same time they're learning English.’
      • ‘More math and reading courses for elementary school teachers were mandated.’
      • ‘Sometimes the text clearly mandates this, in which case I take it that many advocates of judicial restraint wouldn't object.’
      • ‘His task in the next two hours, as mandated by the US State Department, is to summarise baseball for the foreign press.’
      • ‘Until recently it had suffered few consequences, other than economic sanctions that were mandated by Congress.’
      • ‘Likewise, mandating a ‘two winter’ test cycle might be needlessly conservative as computer models become more predictively accurate.’
      • ‘People just seem to think that this can be mandated and then the world's problems are going to be solved.’
      • ‘They wanted it to be mandated, and they wanted legislation that would drive people to do that - just as this bill does.’
      • ‘By the same token, let's examine the minimum wages as mandated by legislation.’
      • ‘For that reason, I do not believe that parental notification should be mandated by law.’
      • ‘An emergency meeting of the Irish regional executive is expected to be mandated by the six Irish districts during the week.’
      • ‘The rules, and thus the inconvenience, have always been mandated by the federal government.’
      • ‘At the same time, the FCC, as mandated by the act, will again review its media ownership rules.’

  • 2be mandated tohistorical (of territory) be assigned to (another power) under a mandate of the League of Nations.

    as adjective mandated ‘mandated territories’

Origin

Early 16th century from Latin mandatum ‘something commanded’, neuter past participle of mandare, from manus ‘hand’ + dare ‘give’. Sense 2 of the noun has been influenced by French mandat.

Pronunciation

mandate

/ˈmandeɪt/