fiat
/ˈfaɪæt/
fiat noun: an arbitrary or authoritative command or order to do something; an effectual decree.
Noun (1)
fiat (countable and uncountable, plural fiats)
- An arbitrary or authoritative command or order to do something; an effectual decree.
- A royal fiat.
- A presidential fiat.
- Authorization, permission or (official) sanction.
- A government fiat.
- To rule by fiat.
- A warrant of a judge for certain processes.
- An authority for certain proceedings given by the Lord Chancellor's signature.
- (Pertaining to) fiat currency.
- But let us trace a little more particularly the differences between the "fiat" dollar and the greenback. The greenback, in common with every bank note any of you have ever seen, contains a promise to pay dollars.1888, Lew Wallace, Life of Gen. Ben Harrison, page 281
- But, say these men who claim for our Congress creative power, we will pass a law making these 'fiat' dollars legal tender for all debts, public and private.1892, Thomas Wallace Knox, The Republican Party and Its Leaders: A History of the Party from Its Beginning to the Present Time... Lives of Harrison and Reid, page 403
Verb
fiat (third-person singular simple present fiats, present participle fiating, simple past and past participle fiated)
- To make (something) happen.
- To issue a fiat.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:fiat.
Proper noun capitalized: FIAT
FIAT
- Initialism of fix it again Tony.
Noun (2) capitalized: FIAT
FIAT (plural FIATs)
- Alternative form of Fiat.
Noun (3) capitalized: Fiat
Fiat (plural Fiats)
- An automobile manufactured by the Italian firm Fiat S.p.A.
- Even as a young feminist who was very angry at men, a real ballbuster, I had a boyfriend who drove a Fiat, I was always fashionable, even though it was hippie gear.1997, Jill Nagle, Whores and Other Feminists, page 160
- We'd watched Marion pile her three kids and their stuff into an old Fiat 124 I was sure Dad must have picked for her; she didn't look like a Fiat driver at heart.2003, Mary-Rose MacColl, Killing Superman, page 108
fiat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fiat in Hindi
- फिएट, फियाट, फ़िएट
fiat in Tamil
- ஃபியட், ஃபியாட், ஃபியட் செய்ய
fiat in Marathi
- फियाट, फिएट, फियाट करण्यासाठी
fiat in Urdu
- فیئٹ, فیاٹ, فائیٹ
More languagesFewer languages
- fiat in Bengali
- ফিয়াট, ফিএট, ফিয়াট করার জন্য
- fiat in Telugu
- ఫియట్, ఫియెట్, ఫియాట్
- fiat in Malayalam
- ഫിയറ്റ്, ഫിയറ്റിലേക്ക്, ഫിയറ്റ് ചെയ്യാൻ
- fiat in Kannada
- ಫಿಯೆಟ್, ಫಿಯಟ್, ಫಿಯೆಟ್ಗೆ
- fiat in Punjabi
- ਫਿਏਟ, ਫ਼ਿਏਟ, ਫੀਆਟ
- fiat in Gujarati
- ફિયાટ, ફિએટ, ફિયેટ
- fiat in Odia
- ଫିଏଟ୍, ଫିଯ଼ାଟ୍, ଫିଏଟ
- fiat in Nepali
- फिएट, फियाट, फयाट
- fiat in Indonesian
- fiat
Examples of fiat in a sentence
- The reflection that the fate of a fellow-creature depended on his sole fiat, would naturally inspire scrupulousness and caution; [...]1788, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist no. 73:
- Beatrice raised her head: she looked at me as if on my words hung the fiat of life or death, fear and earnestness dilating her dark eyes—for an unconfessed hope had arisen within her.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry...
- It must be an absolute fiat - something of the nature of a Mystery or of Religion or Magic - and not to be disputed.1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 195:
- The gold dollar is as much a fiat dollar as the silver dollar or a paper dollar, for none of them are money without this fiat [of the government, that it is legal tender].1896, Charles McClellan Stevens, Free Silver and the People: A Campaign Hand-book for the Struggling Millions Against the Gold-hoarding...
Forms of fiat
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fiats |
| plural | FIATs |
| plural | Fiats |
| alternative form | FIAT |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fiats |
| present participle | fiating |
| past participle | fiated |
| past | fiated |
Origin of fiat
From Latin fīat (“let it be done”).
Back-formation from Fiat as a backronym. From the tendency of Fiat automobiles to apocryphally be always in need of repair. From Italian FIAT, from Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino (“Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin”)
From Italian FIAT, from Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino
Words formed from fiat
Phrases with fiat
Questions about fiat
- What does fiat mean?
- Fiat means an arbitrary or authoritative command or order to do something; an effectual decree.
- What is fiat in Hindi?
- Fiat in Hindi is फिएट, फियाट, फ़िएट. See Fiat meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use fiat in a sentence?
- The reflection that the fate of a fellow-creature depended on his sole fiat, would naturally inspire scrupulousness and caution; [...]
- What part of speech is fiat?
- Fiat can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fiat?
- Fiat is pronounced /ˈfaɪæt/.
- What is the plural of fiat?
- The plural of fiat is fiats.
Words near fiat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fiat (page history and authors); FIAT (page history and authors); Fiat (page history and authors); fiat (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fiat (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fiat.wav.
Cite this entry: “fiat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fiat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.