power
1 [U] the power to give orders to people:
in a position of authority * She now has authority over the people who used to be her bosses. * Nothing will be done because no one in authority (= who has a position of power) takes the matter seriously.
2 [U] ~ (to do sth) the power or right to do sth:
Only the manager has the authority to sign cheques. * We have the authority to search this building.
permission
3 [U] official permission to do sth:
It was done without the principal's authority. * We acted under the authority of the UN.
organization
4 [C,usually pl.] the people or an organization who have the power to make decisions or who have a particular area of responsibility in a country or region:
The health authorities are investigating the problem. * I have to report this to the authorities. * the immigration authorities
seealsoLOCALAUTHORITY
knowledge
5 [U] the power to influence people because they respect your knowledge or official position:
He spoke with authority on the topic. * the moral authority to run the country
expert
6 [C] ~ (on sth) a person with special knowledge:
She's an authority on criminal law.
IDIOMS
have sth on good authority to be able to believe sth because you trust the person who gave you the information:
I have it on good authority that he is going to be promoted.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of authority come from?
This entry for authority is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is authority a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, authority is tagged as noun.
Does authority appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — authority appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
