Word.ws English Dictionary

Magna Carta

Syllables: Mag·na Car·taUK/ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːtə//ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːɹtə/

Magna Carta proper noun: a charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215, which is one of the bases of English constitutional tradition; a physical copy of this charter, or a later version.

magna carta: a charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215, which is one of the bases of...
Image: Uploaded by AzaToth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Magna Carta (countable and uncountable, plural Magna Cartas or Magnae Cartae or Magnæ Cartæ)

  1. (historical) A charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215, which is one of the bases of English constitutional tradition; a physical copy of this charter, or a later version.
    • […] Significantly, only in England—where, beginning in the thirteenth century with the granting of the Magna Charta, there gradually developed an appreciation of the rights and dignities of those less powerful than the king—was the fury of witch hunting mitigated by legal safe-guards and social...1974, Thomas S[tephen] Szasz, chapter 11, in The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 192
    • The Magna Carta harkens back to 1215 when King John of England was forced by an assembly of barons to write down the traditional rights of the country's free persons. By so doing, he bound himself and his heirs to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties described in the great...2010 August 17, “NIST to frame the Magna Carta”, in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), archived from the original on 16 Sep 2013
  2. A modified version of the charter of King John as granted by Henry III in 1236, confirmed as a statute by the Parliament of King Edward I in 1297, part of which remains in force in England and Wales.
    • My Lord Coke ſayes, It had not its name of GREAT CHARTER, from the Greatneſs of it in Quantity; for there were ſeveral Voluminous Charters, longer than this: But it was ſo called, in reſpect of the Great Importance, and Weightyneſs of the Matter; as Charta de Foresta, is called, Magna Charta de...[1680, Edward Cooke, transl., Magna Charta, Made in the Ninth Year of K. Henry the Third, and Confirmed by K. Edward the First, in the Twenty-Eighth Year of His Reign. With Some Short, but Necessary...
    • MAGNA CHARTA. The GREAT CHARTER, Made in the Ninth Year of King Henry the Third, and Confirmed by King Edward the Firſt in the Five and twentieth Year of his Reign.1762, Danby Pickering, The Statutes at Large, from Magna Charta to the End of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761. […], volume I (from Magna Charta to the 14th Year of K. Edward III....
    Synonyms:
    the Carta, Great Charter

Noun

Magna Carta (plural Magna Cartas)

  1. (figuratively) A landmark document that sets out rights or important principles.
    • [R]egarding this new Ordinance relating to the trade union movement, we on the workers' side will consider it as the Magna Carta of the trade union movement and for the workers in Singapore.1959 July 21, John Mammen, “Yang di-Pertuan Negara’s Speech (Debate on the Address) (Fourth Day)”, in Legislative Assembly Debates, Official Report (Legislative Assembly of Singapore), volume 11...
    • The fundamental philosophy of The Magna Carta Of Space is predicated on the principle that a reasonable man has the obligation to guard against foreseeable conflicts which a reasonable man should anticipate.1966, William A. Hyman, Magna Carta of Space, Amherst, Wis.: Amherst Press, →OCLC, page 28

Magna Carta meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

Magna Carta in Hindi

charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215
मैग्ना कार्टा maignā kārṭā

Magna Carta in Tamil

charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215
மாக்னா கார்ட்டா mākṉā kārṭṭā

Magna Carta in Marathi

charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215
मॅग्ना कार्टा mĕgnā kārṭā

Magna Carta in Urdu

charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215
میگنا کارٹا
More languagesFewer languages
Magna Carta in Bengali
ম্যাগনা কার্টা mêgona karṭa
Magna Carta in Telugu
మాగ్నా కార్టా māgnā kārṭā
Magna Carta in Malayalam
മാഗ്നാകാർട്ട māgnākāṟṭṭa
Magna Carta in Tagalog
Batayang Kasulatan
Magna Carta in Arabic
مَاجْنَا كَارْتَا mājnā kārtā
Magna Carta in Malay
Magna Carta
Magna Carta in Indonesian
Magna Carta
Magna Carta in Persian
مگنا کارتا magnâ kârtâ, فرمان کبیر
Magna Carta in Thai
มหากฎบัตร máhăa gòdbàt
Magna Carta in Myanmar
မဂ္ဂနာကာတာ magga.nakata

Examples of Magna Carta in a sentence

  • The Magna Carta harkens back to 1215 when King John of England was forced by an assembly of barons to write down the traditional rights of the country's free persons.2010 August 17, “NIST to frame the Magna Carta”, in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), archived from the original on 16...
  • As importantly, his assent was agreed in writing in the Magna Carta (which means 'Great Charter').2013, Christopher Daniell, “Introduction”, in From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta: England 1066–1215, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page xi:
  • Between 1215 and 1225 four Magna Cartas were issued.2014, Anthony Arlidge with Igor Judge, “Introduction”, in Magna Carta Uncovered, Oxford; Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:
  • Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta, granted in the 9th Year of King Henry III. have, in every Collection of Statutes which contained the Statutes previous to 1 Edw.1810, Record Commission, The Statutes of the Realm. Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third in pursuance of an Address of...

Synonyms of Magna Carta

Forms of Magna Carta

Proper noun
pluralMagna Cartas
pluralMagnae Cartae
pluralMagnæ Cartæ
alternative uncommonMagna Charta
alternative form (obsolete)Magna Charter
alternative contraction (obsolete)Mᵃ Cᵃ
alternative contraction (obsolete)Mag. Cart.
Noun
pluralMagna Cartas

Origin of Magna Carta

From Late Middle English Magna Carta, borrowed from Medieval Latin Magna Carta, from Latin magna (“great”) + carta (“charter”).

Words that rhyme with Magna Carta

Questions about Magna Carta

What does Magna Carta mean?
Magna Carta means a charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215, which is one of the bases of English constitutional tradition; a physical copy of this charter, or a later version.
What is Magna Carta in Hindi?
Magna Carta in Hindi is मैग्ना कार्टा (maignā kārṭā). See Magna Carta meaning in Hindi.
How do you use Magna Carta in a sentence?
The Magna Carta harkens back to 1215 when King John of England was forced by an assembly of barons to write down the traditional rights of the country's free persons.
What part of speech is Magna Carta?
Magna Carta can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Magna Carta?
Magna Carta is pronounced /ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːtə/ (UK).

Words near Magna Carta in the dictionary

  1. magmatology
  2. magmatter
  3. magmic
  4. magn.
  5. magna
  6. Magna Carta
  7. Magna Cartas
  8. Magna Charta
  9. Magna Chartas
  10. magna cum laude
  11. Magna Graecia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Magna Carta (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-magna_carta.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Magna Carta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/magna_carta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.