unauthorized

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + authorized.^[2][3][4] The verb authorize is from Old French autoriser (“to give authority to”), also auctoriser, and partly from Medieval Latin auctōrizō, from Latin auctor (“author”).^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not warranted by proper authority: 1597, in Richard Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity;^[2] the OED of 1989 dated it 1596, and Etymonline gives the 1590s.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1596–1597 – not authorized (Hooker).^[2][6]
• 1854 – unauthorizedly.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Done or made without official permission or proper authority: the unauthorized use of a company car.^[7][8][4]
2. (law) Of a signature or endorsement, made without actual, implied or apparent authority.^[9]

Related words

• authorize
• author
• authority

Usage notes

In British English it is also spelled unauthorised.^[7][4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West