unauthorized
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Pronunciation
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
Meanings
Adjective
- Done or made without official permission or proper authority: the unauthorized use of a company car.[7][8][4]
- (law) Of a signature or endorsement, made without actual, implied or apparent authority.[9]
Related words
Usage notes
In British English it is also spelled unauthorised.[7][4]
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West