charter

noun char·ter \ ˈchär-tər \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Definition of charter

1 : a written instrument (see ¹instrument 4) or contract (such as a deed) executed in due form

2 a : a grant or guarantee of rights, franchises, or privileges from the sovereign power of a state or country

The charter allows for unrestricted trading.

b : a written instrument that creates and defines the franchises (see ¹franchise 2) of a city, educational institution, or corporation

a city charter

a corporate charter

c : constitution

the Charter of the United Nations

3 : a written instrument from the authorities of a society creating a lodge or branch

The national headquarters aproved the charter establishing the local lodge.

4 : a special privilege, immunity, or exemption

5 : a mercantile lease of a ship or some principal part of it

In the charter the ship's owner agreed to transport specified cargo to a specified port.

6 a : a charter travel arrangement

An agent handled the charter providing aircraft travel to and from the tournament.

b : a chartered plane, bus, etc.

Their charter had just landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and … everyone in the Mariners' traveling party had to slog through a tedious customs check and then claim his own luggage.
—Jeff Pearlman

7 : charter school

He pushed for the closure of Chicago's worst schools … and opened dozens of new schools, many of them charters.
—Amanda Paulson et al.

See charter defined for English-language learners

See charter defined for kids

Examples of charter in a Sentence

The charter allows for unrestricted trading.

Recent Examples of charter from the Web

The measure was scaled back – fines were limited to $300, the maximum allowed by city charter – because, councilors said, they were deflated by the state’s failure to act on past petitions.

— milton j. valencia, BostonGlobe.com, "Walsh vetoes city lobbying rules, calling proposal ‘inadequate’," 12 July 2018
The charter was aimed at ensuring that E.U. members respect the independence of the judiciary and executive noninterference with the tenure of judges.

— monika nalepa, Washington Post, "Poland may forcibly ‘retire’ dozens of Supreme Court justices," 10 July 2018
Under the city charter, violating the city's ethical standards of conduct can result in a range of punishments, including prosecution.

— joe guillen, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit tax official reprimanded for second job in real estate," 10 July 2018
Gripp starts with the charter this summer to plan for a middle school that Droege expects to open in fall 2019.

— mará rose williams, kansascity, "Shawnee Mission leader targeted in ACLU free-speech suit leaves for new KC charter," 29 June 2018
The school district is negotiating with the charters to figure out a compromise, a schools spokesman said.

— lois k. solomon, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Charter schools fight for share of proposed tax," 29 June 2018
The charter did not land a fish that weighed more than 30 pounds all last year, said captain Nick Scaffidi of Hartland.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Larger salmon spicing up Lake Michigan catches this year," 23 June 2018
Under the city charter, Stewart’s $237.7 million budget plan will take effect on July 1.

— don stacom, Courant Community, "Mayor Vetoes Changes To New Britain Budget," 18 June 2018
But most important, the new charter mandated that the city eliminate the Board of Estimate and create a 51-member City Council.

— david freedlander, Daily Intelligencer, "Not That Long Ago, New York City Really Was Run From a Smoke-filled Backroom," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'charter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of charter

Middle English chartre, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin chartula, from Latin, diminutive of charta — see ¹chart

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

charter

verb

Definition of charter

chartered; chartering; charters

transitive verb

1 a : to establish, enable, or convey by charter

The city was chartered in 1837.

b British : certify

a chartered mechanical engineer

2 : to hire, rent, or lease for usually exclusive and temporary use

chartered a boat for deep-sea fishing

—

charterer

play \-tər-ər\ noun

See charter defined for English-language learners

Examples of charter in a Sentence

The city was chartered in 1837.
The team chartered a plane.

Recent Examples of charter from the Web

Tauck doesn't own its own cruise ships but instead fully or partially charters vessels for departures from Ponant (or in a few cases, Silversea and Windstar).

— gene sloan, USA TODAY, "Exclusive events, all-inclusive fares: Inside the Tauck formula for small-ship cruising," 13 July 2018
The chapter was officially chartered at a ceremony in April 2018.

— cincinnati enquirer, Cincinnati.com, "The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences charters Nursing Honor Society," 7 May 2018
Eventually, Dixon and his wife chartered out a course for starting his own suit business.

— peter dawson, star-telegram, "Fitting suits for some of the top prospects in the NFL Draft is tailor-made for Carlton Dixon | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 25 Apr. 2018
Rachel Hewitt, who is active in Charlotte Women’s March, chartered the bus to Washington and says the 54 seats sold out quickly.

— ann doss helms, charlotteobserver, "Remember those pink hats? Knitters have a new protest fashion for March For Our Lives. | Charlotte Observer," 15 Mar. 2018
Last year a rhino at Akagera killed a conservationist, and three people died when a helicopter chartered by African Parks crashed in Chinko park in Central African Republic.

— christopher torchia, Fox News, "Backed by Prince Harry, conservation group expands in Africa," 7 July 2018
The chapter was chartered as Oceanside Chapter in October 1929, changing the name to Santa Margarita to more fully encompass the area served.

— linda mcintosh, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Daughters of American Revolution keep marching ...community news," 12 July 2018
It was originally chartered in 1905 as The German National Bank, but anti-German hysteria during World War I led the bank to change its name to Lincoln National Bank.

— randy tucker, Cincinnati.com, "Two historic Downtown buildings up for sale along fast-developing Fourth Street corridor," 12 July 2018
Ffortissimo, who once chartered a boat and played the piano for whales, said playing in a botanical garden is tame stuff by comparison.

— steve rubenstein, SFChronicle.com, "SF’s Flower Piano: Harmonies among the hydrangeas," 5 July 2018

Origin and Etymology of charter

see ¹charter

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

charter Synonyms

Synonyms

engage, hire, lease, rent;

Related Words

sublease, sublet;

check out;

arrange (for), bespeak, book, contract (for), order, reserve, sign up (for);

Synonym Discussion of charter

hire, let, lease, rent, charter mean to engage or grant for use at a price. hire and let, strictly speaking, are complementary terms, hire implying the act of engaging or taking for use and let the granting of use.

- we hired a car for the summer
- decided to let the cottage to a young couple

lease strictly implies a letting under the terms of a contract but is often applied to hiring on a lease.

- the diplomat leased an apartment for a year

rent stresses the payment of money for the full use of property and may imply either hiring or letting.

- instead of buying a house, they decided to rent
- will not rent to families with children

charter applies to the hiring or letting of a vehicle usually for exclusive use.

- charter a bus to go to the game

Other Transportation Terms

camber, corduroy, demurrage, milestone

charter

adjective

Definition of charter

: of, relating to, or being a travel arrangement in which transportation (such as a bus or plane) is hired by and for one specific group of people

a charter flight

See charter defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of charter from the Web

As investigators comb through county contracts and emails, cleveland.com took a look at how the charter government, with its checks and balances, is supposed to award contracts and purchase goods.

— karen farkas, cleveland.com, "How does Cuyahoga County award contracts and purchase items?," 19 Mar. 2018
The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) reviews all charter school applications the Commission considers and rates all applications in three areas: educational program design, operations, and financial plans.

— trisha powell crain, AL.com, "Alabama commission approves two new public charter schools," 27 June 2017
At this point, it is aimed only at cities and counties operating under general state law, not charter cities such as San Jose and a number of others in Silicon Valley or charter counties like Santa Clara.

— mercury news editorial board, The Mercury News, "Editorial: Union bill in California legislature to limit local cities’ contracting decisions is an ambiguous mess," 21 Apr. 2017
Charter students hand deliver #yeson7069 letters to Gov Scott office.

— kristen m. clark, miamiherald, "What are Floridians telling Rick Scott now about the schools bill? It’s mixed.," 25 May 2017
Charter school management organizations often spend a good deal of money to market and recruit students, which traditional districts don’t do.

— valerie strauss, Washington Post, "The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools," 21 May 2017
Charter cities, such as Palo Alto, would be exempt from new rules.

— kevin kelly, The Mercury News, "City may weigh in on state bill against outsourcing," 12 May 2017
Charter school advocate Betsy DeVos won confirmation as education secretary Tuesday by the slimmest of margins, pushed to approval only by the historic tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence.

— Orange County Register, "DeVos ekes out confirmation win as Pence casts historic vote," 7 Feb. 2017
The Excise and Licenses director is a charter officer position, one of 11 jobs in Hancock’s Cabinet that require the setting of their salaries in city ordinance, with council approval required for any change.

— jon murray, The Denver Post, "Hancock administration seeks big boost in salary for Denver licensing director," 11 Jan. 2017

First Known Use of charter

1922

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Other Transportation Terms

camber, corduroy, demurrage, milestone

CHARTER Defined for English Language Learners

charter

noun

Definition of charter for English Language Learners

: a document issued by a government that gives rights to a person or group
: a document which declares that a city, town, school, or corporation has been established
: a document that describes the basic laws, principles, etc., of a group

charter

verb

Definition of charter for English Language Learners

: to give a charter to (a government, corporation, etc.)
: to hire (a ship, bus, etc.) for temporary use

charter

adjective

Definition of charter for English Language Learners

: hired for temporary use

CHARTER Defined for Kids

charter

noun char·ter \ ˈchär-tər \

Definition of charter for Students

1 : an official document setting out the rights and duties of a group

The charter grants broad trading rights.

2 : a document which declares that a city, town, school, or corporation has been established

3 : a document that describes the basic laws or principles of a group

the charity's charter

charter

verb

Definition of charter for Students

chartered; chartering

1 : to grant a charter to

The city was chartered in 1853.

2 : to hire (as a bus or an aircraft) for temporary use

The team chartered a plane.

Law Dictionary

charter

noun char·ter

legal Definition of charter

1 a : a grant or guarantee of rights, powers, or privileges from an authority or agency of a state or country

a state bank charter

— compare constitution

b : a written instrument that creates and defines the powers and privileges of a city, educational institution, or corporation — compare articles of incorporation

2 : a written instrument from the authorities of a society creating a lodge, branch, or chapter

3 : a lease of a ship especially for the delivery of cargo — called also charter party