authority
part of speech
noun (authority, uncountable; an authority, authorities)
meaning for a pupil
1) Authority is the power or right to give orders and make decisions: "the head teacher has authority over the school". tree →
2) The authorities are the people or organisations in charge, such as the police or government. tree →
3) An authority on a subject is an expert who knows a lot about it: "she's an authority on birds". tree →
4) A local authority (UK) is the council that runs a town or area. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school and safety lessons, children learn whom to trust and which people have authority (teachers, police, lifeguards). In stories, characters may obey or defy authority. In formal writing and news, "the authorities" means those in charge. Phrases: in authority, the authorities, an authority on, local authority, on good authority.
examples
- The police have authority to stop cars. tree →
- The authorities closed the road after the flood. tree →
- Our teacher has the authority to give detentions. tree →
- My uncle is an authority on old cars. tree →
- She spoke with great authority. tree →
- I have it on good authority that we have a test tomorrow. tree →
- The local authority runs the library. tree →
- "Who gave you authority to come this way?" roared he. tree →
note
Plural: authorities. Uncountable for power, countable for groups or experts. Verb: authorise (UK) or authorize (USA) — to give permission. Adjective: authoritative. Spelling: -ority.
In the corpora
- Judas, one of the twelve disciples, betrayed Jesus to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver.
- Catholics see the Pope as the successor of the apostle Peter; other churches do not accept his authority.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «authority» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.