Library / English Dictionary

WARRANT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A writ from a court commanding police to perform specified acts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("warrant" is a kind of...):

judicial writ; writ ((law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "warrant"):

search warrant (a warrant authorizing law enforcement officials to search for objects or people involved in the commission of a crime and to produce them in court; the warrant describes the locations where the officials may search)

arrest warrant; bench warrant (a warrant authorizing law enforcement officials to apprehend an offender and bring that person to court)

death warrant (a warrant to execute the death sentence)

cachet; lettre de cachet (a warrant formerly issued by a French king who could warrant imprisonment or death in a signed letter under his seal)

reprieve (a warrant granting postponement (usually to postpone the execution of the death sentence))

commutation (a warrant substituting a lesser punishment for a greater one)

amnesty; pardon (a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A written assurance that some product or service will be provided or will meet certain specifications

Synonyms:

guarantee; warrant; warrantee; warranty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("warrant" is a kind of...):

assurance; pledge (a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "warrant"):

stock warrant (a written certificate that gives the holder the right to purchase shares of a stock for a specified price within a specified period of time)

deposit (a payment given as a guarantee that an obligation will be met)

security; surety (a guarantee that an obligation will be met)

Derivation:

warrant (stand behind and guarantee the quality, accuracy, or condition of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Formal and explicit approval

Example:

a Democrat usually gets the union's endorsement

Synonyms:

countenance; endorsement; imprimatur; indorsement; sanction; warrant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("warrant" is a kind of...):

approval; commendation (a message expressing a favorable opinion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "warrant"):

O.K.; OK; okay; okeh; okey (an endorsement)

visa (an endorsement made in a passport that allows the bearer to enter the country issuing it)

nihil obstat (the phrase used by the official censor of the Roman Catholic Church to say that a publication has been examined and contains nothing offensive to the church)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A type of security issued by a corporation (usually together with a bond or preferred stock) that gives the holder the right to purchase a certain amount of common stock at a stated price

Example:

as a sweetener they offered warrants along with the fixed-income securities

Synonyms:

stock-purchase warrant; stock warrant; warrant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("warrant" is a kind of...):

security; surety (property that your creditor can claim in case you default on your obligation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "warrant"):

perpetual warrant (a warrant with no expiration date)

subscription warrant (a warrant that expires on a stipulated date)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stand behind and guarantee the quality, accuracy, or condition of

Example:

I warrant this information

Synonyms:

guarantee; warrant

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "warrant" is one way to...):

back; endorse; indorse; plump for; plunk for; support (be behind; approve of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "warrant"):

cover; insure; underwrite (protect by insurance)

certify; endorse; indorse (guarantee as meeting a certain standard)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

warrant (a written assurance that some product or service will be provided or will meet certain specifications)

warrantee (a customer to whom a warrant or guarantee is given)

warranter; warrantor (one who provides a warrant or guarantee to another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provide adequate grounds to justify (a certain course of action)

Example:

The emergency does not warrant all of us buying guns

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "warrant" is one way to...):

justify; vindicate (show to be right by providing justification or proof)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

He had his death-warrant written legibly upon his face.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Other widely used and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including parabens, phthalates, and flame retardants, may be having similarly adverse affects on fertility that warrant much more study.

(Reproductive Problems Reported In Lab Mice after BPA Replacements in Plastics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

"It definitely warrants further study. Additional lines of evidence should be pursued to test the interpretation."

(Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole, NASA)

Somewhat rougher, I warrant, than what you have been used to, but still-man-play.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Our treasure was warranted sober and honest.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On each side there was much to attract, and their acquaintance soon promised as early an intimacy as good manners would warrant.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If he refuses, we have no alternative but to apply for a warrant.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Poor dear, sweet lady! She confided to me that she has got her death-warrant.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to Traldragdubh, or Trildrogdrib (for it is pronounced both ways as near as I can remember), by a party of ten horse.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

In the lab, A1AT reversed the damaging inflammation seen in tissues that lacked SPINK7, suggesting that further investigation is warranted to determine if this therapeutic may also benefit people with EoE.

(Eosinophilic esophagitis may be due to missing protein, National Institutes of Health)