warrant
pronunciation
How to pronounce warrant in British English:
UK [ˈwɒrənt]
How to pronounce warrant in American English:
US [ˈwɔːrənt]
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- Noun:
- a writ from a court commanding police to perform specified acts
- 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
- formal and explicit approval
- a written assurance that some product or service will be provided or will meet certain specifications
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- Verb:
- show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for
- stand behind and guarantee the quality, accuracy, or condition of
Word Origin
- warrant
- warrant: [13] Warrant probably goes back ultimately to werenti ‘protector’, a noun use of the present participle of Old High German werren ‘protect’, which in turn was formed from the base *wer- ‘watch, be on one’s guard, take care’ (source of English ward, wary, etc). This was borrowed into medieval Latin as warantus, and passed into English via Old Northern French warant. The central Old French form of the word was garant, which passed into English via Spanish as guarantee.=> guarantee, ware
- warrant (n.)
- c. 1200, "protector, defender," from Old North French warant "defender; surety, pledge; justifying evidence" (Old French garant), from Frankish *warand, from Proto-Germanic *war- "to warn, guard, protect" (cognates: Old High German werento "guarantor," noun use of present participle of weren "to authorize, warrant;" German gewähren "to grant"), from PIE root *wer- (5) "to cover" (see weir). Sense evolved via notion of "permission from a superior which protects one from blame or responsibility" (early 14c.) to "document conveying authority" (1510s). A warrant officer in the military is one who holds office by warrant (as from a government department), rather than by commission (from a head of state).
- warrant (v.)
- late 13c., "to keep safe from danger," from Old North French warantir "safeguard, protect; guarantee, pledge" (Old French garantir), from warant (see warrant (n.)). Meaning "to guarantee to be of quality" is attested from late 14c.; sense of "to guarantee as true" is recorded from c. 1300. Related: Warranted; warranting; warrantable.
Example
- 1. Does the risk of title disputes warrant the cost of title insurance ?
- 2. Holder said the review did not warrant any further investigation into the remaining 100-plus cases .
- 3. At that point , all those sick enough to warrant being treated would be under treatment .
- 4. We are completely responsible for this accident . We warrant we won 't make this kind of mistake again .
- 5. And the risk that ill-monitored russian nuclear material falls into the wrong hands seems real enough to warrant action .