Authorities

noun

noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    plural of authority form-of, plural
  2. 2
    The bodies that have political or administrative power and control in a particular sphere. plural, plural-only
  3. 3
    the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit wordnet
  4. 4
    The bodies that enforce law and order or provide a public service. plural, plural-only

    "ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve Officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25, as part of the agency’s effort to step up immigration enforcement. Officials with the town and police department have said federal authorities previously told them Evans was legally authorized to work in the U.S."

Synonyms

All synonyms
authoritybureaucracycomplaintdirectorategovernmentgovernment

Example

More examples

"The discrepancy between the stories of the two parties involved in the accident was so great that the authorities had a hard time deciding which side was telling the truth."

Related phrases

public authoritieslaw and orderpublic service

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.