From Middle English auctorite, autorite ("authority, book or quotation that settles an argument"), from Old French auctorité, from Latin - stem of auctōritās ("invention, advice, opinion, influence, command"), from auctor ("master, leader, author").

• (British) IPA: /ɔːˈθɒɹəti/, /ɔːˈθɒɹɪti/
• (America) IPA: /əˈθɔɹəti/, /əˈθɑɹəti/
• (obsolete) IPA: /ɒːˈtɒɹɪti/

authority

1. (uncountable) Power or right to make or enforce rules or give orders; or a position having such power or right.

   Synonyms: command, rulership, sovereignty

   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.

   Respect my authority!

   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i:

     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.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner's Sons […], →OCLC ↗:

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (plural) Persons, regarded collectively, who occupy official positions of power; police or law enforcement.

   Authorities say the suspect fled on foot.

3. (countable) A reliable, definitive source of information on a subject.

   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.

4. (uncountable) Status as a trustworthy source of information, reputation for mastery or expertise; or claim to such status or reputation.

   Synonyms: cred, gravitas

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

5. (uncountable) Official permission; authorisation to act in some capacity on behalf of a ruling entity.
6. (countable) A government-owned agency that runs a revenue-generating activity for public benefit.

   New York Port Authority

   Chicago Transit Authority

• French: autorité
• German: Autorität
• Italian: autorità
• Portuguese: autoridade
• Russian: власть
• Spanish: autoridad

• French: autorité
• German: Autorität; Behörde
• Italian: autorità
• Portuguese: autoridade
• Russian: власть
• Spanish: policía, autoridades, fuerzas del orden

• French: autorité
• German: Autorität
• Italian: autorità
• Portuguese: autoridade
• Russian: авторите́т
• Spanish: autoridad

• Spanish: autoridad

• German: Behörde
• Russian: администра́ция

• Spanish: autoridad, autorización