Fiat definition

fēət, -ăt, -ät, fīăt, -ət
Authorization or sanction.

Government fiat.

noun
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An order issued by legal authority, traditionally beginning with the word fiat (“let it be done”); decree.
noun
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An arbitrary order or decree.
noun
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A sanction; authorization.
noun
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1
Any arbitrary order.
noun
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The definition of a fiat is an order or decree, or any arbitrary order.

An example of a fiat is a legally binding decree that is issued by a king.

noun
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(derogatory, slang, automotive) Fix it again Tony, a derogatory slang phrase for Fiat, a backronym.
acronym
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An automobile manufactured by the Italian firm Fiat S.p.A..
pronoun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
fiat
Plural:
fiats

Origin of fiat

  • Medieval Latin from Latin let it be done third person sing. present subjunctive of fierī to become, to be done bheuə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Italian abbreviation: Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (“Italian Automobile Factory of Turin”)

    From Wiktionary

Fiat Sentence Examples

  • Subsequently very important reforms were introduced, not by the vote of an assembly, but by the fiat of the autocratic power.

  • God is to him an absolute despot, who declares a thing right or wrong from no inherent necessity but by his arbitrary fiat.

  • For a nation cannot simply be created by bureaucratic fiat.

  • It consists generally of a fiat, upright leaf standing on stems.

  • There is an affirmation of divine fiat, or instantaneous creation.

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Words near fiat in the Dictionary