mandate

noun

man·date | \ ˈman-ˌdāt

Definition of mandate

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : an authoritative command especially : a formal order from a superior court or official to an inferior one

2 : an authorization to act given to a representative accepted the mandate of the people

3a : an order or commission granted by the League of Nations to a member nation for the establishment of a responsible government over a former German colony or other conquered territory

b : a mandated territory

mandate

verb

man·date | \ ˈman-ˌdāt

mandated; mandating

Definition of mandate (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to administer or assign (something, such as a territory) under a mandate

2 : to officially require (something) : make (something) mandatory : order a law mandating recycling also : to direct or require (someone) to do something a commission mandated to investigate corruption

Synonyms When Should You Use mandate? More Example Sentences Learn More about mandate

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When Should You Use mandate?

A mandate from a leader is a command you can't refuse. But that kind of personal command is rarely the meaning of mandate today; much more common are connected with institutions. Thus, the Clean Air Act was a mandate from Congress to clean up air pollution—and since mandate is also a verb, we could say instead that the Clear Air Act mandated new restrictions on air pollution. Elections are often interpreted as mandates from the public for certain kinds of action. But since a politician is not just a symbol of certain policies but also an individual who might happen to have an awfully nice smile, it can be risky to interpret most elections as mandating anything at all.

Examples of mandate in a Sentence

Noun

Sports fans have considerable forbearance. Year after year they endure escalating ticket prices, the abomination known as seat licensing and the implied mandate that taxpayers should foot the bill for the new stadium or arena that will absolutely revive downtown. — Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated, 30 July 2007 All provisions requiring congressional approval, such as FDA regulation, were dropped, as were mandates for stronger package warnings, tighter enforcement on sales to youth, stronger public smoking bans, and … provisions to reduce youth smoking. — Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century, 2007 Not the least of the Governors' problems are the new mandates being put on them by Washington—by a President who was once one of their own. — Karen Tumulty, Time, 19 May 2003 Royal mandates must be obeyed. They carried out the governor's mandate to build more roads. He won the election so convincingly that he believed he had been given a mandate for change.

Verb

The carbon prices on the European exchanges are higher precisely because the allowances for carbon emissions are mandated by government. — Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, 2006 But the FDA did nothing. Later, it protested that it doesn't have the authority to mandate additional studies once a drug is marketed, but that is sophistry. The FDA has the authority to pull drugs off the market … — Marcia Angell, New York Review of Books, 8 June 2006 For a few tantalizing weeks this spring, the manufacturers of gun safety locks seemed to have hit the jackpot: the gun-control bill passed by the Senate in the wake of the Littleton shootings mandated that all new handguns be equipped with safety locks. — Calvin Trillin, Time, 5 July 1999 The law mandates that every car have seat belts. He won the election so convincingly that he believed the people had mandated him to carry out his policies.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

In a January letter, SQN threatened a proxy fight if its mandates to turn around... — Laura Forman, WSJ, "Yelp Evades Fire but Isn’t Bulletproof," 7 Mar. 2019 Starting Monday, all restaurant, grocery and convenience store chains with 20 or more locations are required to display calorie counts for all items on their menus to comply with a mandate from the Affordable Care Act. — Jessica Fecteau, PEOPLE.com, "Grocery Stores and Chain Restaurants Are Now Legally Required to Display Calorie Counts to Customers," 7 May 2018 Some analysts counter that the mandate has never been particularly aggressively enforced and has had little impact. — WSJ, "WSJ Tax Guide 2019: Individual Mandate," 15 Feb. 2019 To comply with a state mandate that the county consolidate its 911 centers, officials included it in the new public safety complex with the Will County sheriff’s department on Laraway Road and US Route 52 in Joliet. — Susan Demar Lafferty, Daily Southtown, "Brad Veerman remembered as a 'great public servant'," 9 July 2018 Schimel's lawsuit argues that because the tax has been dropped, the individual mandate to buy health insurance and, with it, the entire law are no longer constitutional. — Jason Stein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Obamacare costs could drop 5% in 2019, under plan by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker," 19 Apr. 2018 Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes moonlighted as an Uber driver to help land the company’s IPO mandate. — Stephen Wilmot, WSJ, "How Investors Can Prepare for Uber and Lyft IPOs," 1 Mar. 2019 This includes, for example, Stuart Kyle Duncan, an attorney who fought the ACA’s contraceptive mandate in front of the Supreme Court and is now a judge on the Fifth Circuit. — Li Zhou, Vox, "Trump has gotten 66 judges confirmed this year. In his second year, Obama had gotten 49.," 27 Dec. 2018 The Trump administration, though, now must contend with Mr. López Obrador, an enormously popular politician who won a landslide victory and a broad mandate. — Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times, "U.S. Delegation and Mexico’s Next President Aim to Reset Relations," 13 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The county is constitutionally mandated to provide an attorney for alleged offenders who can’t afford to hire one. — Jerzy Shedlock, The Seattle Times, "‘This is not OK’: Clark County Indigent Defense Office needs more attorneys for serious, time-consuming cases," 27 Nov. 2018 Security updates are mandated within the second year as well, though without a specified minimum number of releases. — Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge, "Google mandates two years of security updates for popular phones in new Android contract," 24 Oct. 2018 The sanctions are mandated by a U.S. law that requires action over the use of chemical and biological weapons—but President Trump maintains significant discretionary power over the degree of that punishment. — Fox News, "Russian stocks, ruble take hit on uncertainty over US sanctions," 10 Aug. 2018 Local teams in the 14-and-under Pony, 11-and-under Bronco and 9-and-under Mustang divisions are now mandated to play games either earlier in the morning on Saturday or just before dark to avoid the most oppressive temperatures. — Sam Dodge, latimes.com, "Heat postpones baseball games at PONY tournament," 7 July 2018 America’s infrastructure is old; corrosion control is federally mandated to prevent pipes from crumbling into the water, but none was instituted in this case. — Parul Sehgal, New York Times, "Toxic History, Poisoned Water: The Story of Flint," 3 July 2018 The study, conducted by DPH along with other state agencies, University of Massachusetts researchers, and several private firms, was mandated in lawmakers’ 2017 rewrite of the 2016 ballot initiative legalizing marijuana in the state. — Dan Adams, BostonGlobe.com, "One in five Mass. adults consumed pot in past month," 29 June 2018 Illinois has been a fiscal mess for years, but a saving grace has been that the state Constitution mandates a flat tax rate that is now 4.95% on personal income. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "Pritzker’s Illinois Exit Ramp," 15 Mar. 2019 The 1947 ruling in their case, Mendez et al v. Westminster et al, marked the first time that any U.S. schools were mandated to desegregate, although only for cases involving Mexican-American students. — Isabella Gomez, Teen Vogue, "Sylvia Mendez Helped Integrate California Schools for Latinx Students in the 1940s, But She Says the U.S. Is More Segregated Now," 3 Dec. 2018

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