Authorities

How to spell authorities

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce authorities

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does authorities mean?

1. nounThe people or organisations holding official power, such as governments, councils, or the police.
2. nounPeople widely accepted as expert and trustworthy sources on a particular subject.

Authorities in a sentence

• The local authorities approved the plans for the new bridge.

• She cited three leading authorities on medieval history in her thesis.

• Travellers must declare large sums of cash to the customs authorities.

• The report drew on respected authorities in climate science.

Where does authorities come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin auctoritas, meaning 'authorship, influence, or the power to command', which itself was built on auctor, a person who originates, produces, or vouches for something. The Latin auctor came from the verb augere, meaning 'to increase or promote', so an auctor was literally someone who makes a thing grow or stand behind it. English took the word in through Old French autorite during the 1200s and 1300s, and the spelling later drifted back toward its Latin shape with the 'th' and the 'or'. Over time the plural authorities came to name the various people and bodies that hold official power, such as governments and police, as well as recognised experts whose word carries weight. The same auctor root still lives openly in 'author' and 'authentic', and remembering that 'author' sits inside the word helps fix the tricky unstressed middle vowel and the -or- spelling.

How the word is built

• author- (from auctor: originator, master)
• -ity (noun suffix forming 'state or quality')
• -es (plural ending after -y becomes -ies)