fiat

noun fi·at \ ˈfē-ət , -ˌat , -ˌät ; ˈfī-ət , -ˌat \

Updated on: 11 Apr 2018

1 : a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort

According to the Bible, the world was created by fiat.

2 : an authoritative determination : dictate

a fiat of conscience

3 : an authoritative or arbitrary order : decree

government by fiat

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Examples of fiat in a Sentence

He runs the company by fiat.
the school principal issued a fiat that caps were not to be worn inside the school, and that was that

Recent Examples of fiat from the Web

If market forces are to dictate where resources go in China’s economy, then market forces should allocate credit—not government fiat.

— bill powell, Newsweek, "Is This the End of China's Economic Miracle?," 26 Nov. 2014
The second is the question of whether creditors will be repaid in bitcoin or fiat currency, which the trustee is still considering.

— adrianne jeffries, The Verge, "Inside the bizarre upside-down bankruptcy of Mt. Gox," 22 Mar. 2018
The only problem was, as the price of bitcoin rose, the debt was effectively growing higher and higher—Karpelès had to buy more bitcoins in fiat currency.

— cyrus farivar, Ars Technica, "Effortless French: Mt. Gox and Bitcoin’s roller coaster ride," 12 Mar. 2018
There is software that can process crypto transactions by exchanging crypto/fiat, provide back-end support and keep transaction ledgers—as opposed to traditional banks internal processes—which may take longer.

— kirill radchenko, Newsweek, "Cryptocurrency Has Hijacked the Banking System and Will Revolutionize Global Money," 7 Mar. 2018
Bitcoin is a revolt against fiat money**, and an all-meat diet is a revolt against fiat food.

— mike albo and amanda duarte, Town & Country, "The Official Bitcoin Billionaire's Handbook," 6 Mar. 2018
Government by corporate fiat is unequal, unfair, haphazard — and no substitute for the fundamentals of a participatory democracy that America was founded on.

— will bunch, Philly.com, "This is America, 2018. Government is dead. Corporations rule. Their 'electorate' is consumers | Will Bunch," 4 Mar. 2018
Risks of fraud or hacking then only occur when a holder wants to exchange crypto assets for fiat currencies, but these can be minimized.

— reuters, Fortune, "The Coincheck Cryptocurrency Hack: Everything You Need to Know," 29 Jan. 2018
Following the Constitution and the rule of law, Trump urged Congress to do its job and pass legislation to do what Obama did by fiat: address the future of these illegals who came to America under parental supervision.

— deroy murdock, National Review, "The 92 Percent Schumer Shutdown Is Now 100 Percent Kaput," 23 Jan. 2018

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