authority

noun

1. 1

   Power or right to make or enforce rules, give orders, or impose obligation; or a position having such power or right.

   I have the authority to penalise the staff in my department, but not the authority to sack them.

   Vigilantes may have the power to nab criminals, but they lack the authority.

   She lost all respect and authority after turning up drunk at the meeting.

   Respect my authority!

2. 2

   Persons, regarded collectively, who occupy official positions of power; police or law enforcement.

   Authorities say the suspect fled on foot.

   The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.

   No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.

   In China, authorities said they might soon shoot down an unidentified flying object over waters near the northern city of Rizhao, The South China Morning Post reported.

3. 3

   A reliable, definitive source of information on a subject.

   the world's foremost authority on orangutans

   My cheap dictionary is not the authority on word derivations.

   To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

   In these volumes, edited by a French scholar who is today the greatest (and almost the only) authority on Siamese legal history […]

4. 4

   Status as a trustworthy source of information, reputation for mastery or expertise; or claim to such status or reputation.

   Due to being inadequate for the deductive method of reasoning, the argument from authority is considered a logical fallacy.

5. 5

   Official permission; authorisation to act in some capacity on behalf of a ruling entity.

   'It seems to me,' remarked Mr Carrados, remembering something very similar not long before, 'that whatever anyone wants to do about Shakespeare, it is easy to find authority in his works for doing it.'

   Authority to construct eight carriages, to test the new design in public service, had already been given; but of course complete working drawings had first to be prepared.

6. 6

   A government-owned agency that runs a revenue-generating activity for public benefit.

   New York Port Authority

   Chicago Transit Authority

Forms

plural

authorities