Mandated

How to spell mandated

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce mandated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mandated mean?

1. verbRequired or made compulsory by an official order, law, or authority.

Mandated in a sentence

• The new policy mandated annual safety training for all staff.

• Local councils mandated the use of recycling bins last spring.

Where does mandated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'mandate', which descends from the Latin verb mandare, meaning 'to commit to one's charge', 'to order', or 'to entrust'. That verb was itself built from two pieces: manus, meaning 'hand', and dare, meaning 'to give', so the literal idea was to give something into someone's hand, that is, to place it in their care. From a sense of entrusting a task came the sense of an authoritative command, and English took the noun 'mandate' through French and directly from Latin in the early 1500s. The verb use, meaning to make something compulsory by official order, developed later. The same manus 'hand' root sits inside everyday words like 'manual' and 'manuscript', which is a handy reminder that mandare is about handing over a charge.

How the word is built

• mand- (from mandare: to command, entrust)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)