I have the authority to penalise the staff in my department, but not the authority to sack them.

Vigilantes may have the power to nab criminals, but they lack the authority.

She lost all respect and authority after turning up drunk at the meeting.

SIR PETER. Very well! ma'am very well! so a husband is to have no influence, no authority?
LADY TEAZLE. Authority! no, to be sure—if you wanted authority over me, you should have adopted me and not married me[:] I am sure you were old enough.

Authorities say the suspect fled on foot.

The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.

No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.

In China, authorities said they might soon shoot down an unidentified flying object over waters near the northern city of Rizhao, The South China Morning Post reported.

the world's foremost authority on orangutans

My cheap dictionary is not the authority on word derivations.

1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman
To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

Some thinkers regard appealing to authority as a logical fallacy; others regard it as a legitimate form of argument.

Authority to construct eight carriages, to test the new design in public service, had already been given; but of course complete working drawings had first to be prepared.

Authority

Meaning

Noun

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