different between decree vs authority

English

Etymology

From Middle English decre, decree, from Old French decré (French décret), from Latin d?cr?tum.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??k?i?/

Noun

decree (plural decrees)

1. An edict or law.
2. (law) The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
3. (law) The determination of a cause in a court of admiralty or court of probate.
4. (religion) A predetermination made by God; an act of providence.

Derived terms

• consent decree
• decree nisi
• final decree
• interlocutory decree

Translations

Verb

decree (third-person singular simple present decrees, present participle decreeing, simple past and past participle decreed)

1. To command by a decree.

   A court decrees a restoration of property.

   • Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.

Translations

Anagrams

• recede

Middle English

Noun

decree

1. Alternative form of decre

English

Alternative forms

• authourity, authoritie, autority, auctoritie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctorite, autorite (“authority, book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auct?rit?s (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”). For the presence of the h, compare the etymology of author.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???????ti/, /???????ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??????ti/, /??????ti/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /???t???ti/
• Hyphenation: au?thor?i?ty
• Rhymes: -???ti

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable, plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government.
3. (countable) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
   • 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

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

4. Government-owned agency which runs a revenue-generating activity.

   New York Port Authority

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• have something on good authority

References

• authority at OneLook Dictionary Search
• authority in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• authority in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.