mandate
n. countablen. the official power or permission to do something, usually given by voters in an election. It can also mean a formal order from a person or group in charge.
n. the authority granted by a constituency to its representative to act as its agent; also, a formal command or instruction from a superior authority. Often used in political contexts to describe the legitimacy a government claims after winning an election.
The new president has a mandate to change the law.
Winning sixty percent of the vote gave the mayor a clear mandate to proceed with the city's infrastructure project.
The committee argued that without a specific legislative mandate, they lacked the legal standing to enforce the new environmental regulations across the private sector.
First attested in 1521; borrowed from Latin mandātum (“a charge, order, command, commission, injunction”), substantivized from the neuter forms of mandātus, perfect passive participle of mandō (“to commit to one's charge, order, command, commission, literally to put into one's hands”) (see -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from manus (“hand”) + -dere (“to put”). Sense 3 in Canadian English is likely a semantic loan from French mandat.
First attested in 1623; partly directly borrowed from Latin mandātus (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more), partly from the above noun by metanalysis.
From man + date.
Commonly used with the verbs 'seek', 'give', or 'carry'. Often followed by the preposition 'for' or an infinitive 'to'.