Word.ws English Dictionary

unitary authority

unitary authority noun: in local government, a single-tier authority which replaces a two-tier structure. For example, in England, county councils are abolished and their responsibilities are transferred to boroughs and local government districts (but this only applies to some counties, not all). In some cases complete counties, such as Cornwall and Northumberland, are now unitary authorities without any subdivision into local government districts.

Noun

unitary authority (plural unitary authorities)

  1. In local government, a single-tier authority which replaces a two-tier structure. For example, in England, county councils are abolished and their responsibilities are transferred to boroughs and local government districts (but this only applies to some counties, not all). In some cases complete counties, such as Cornwall and Northumberland, are now unitary authorities without any subdivision into local government districts.
    • "The support of Somerset Council (currently in transition to becoming a unitary authority) will be crucial, as they are the statutory planning authority."2023 February 8, Andrew Mourant, “A serious shuttle service with options to Taunton and beyond”, in RAIL, number 976, page 31
    Synonyms:
    unitary council

Synonyms of unitary authority

Forms of unitary authority

pluralunitary authorities

Questions about unitary authority

What does unitary authority mean?
Unitary authority means in local government, a single-tier authority which replaces a two-tier structure. For example, in England, county councils are abolished and their responsibilities are transferred to boroughs and local government districts (but this only applies to some counties, not all). In some cases complete counties, such as Cornwall and Northumberland, are now unitary authorities without any subdivision into local government districts.
What part of speech is unitary authority?
Unitary authority is a noun.
What is the plural of unitary authority?
The plural of unitary authority is unitary authorities.

Words near unitary authority in the dictionary

  1. unitarized
  2. unitarizes
  3. unitarizing
  4. unitary
  5. unitary authorities
  6. unitary authority
  7. unitary council
  8. unitary councils
  9. unitary government
  10. unitary governments
  11. unitary group

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unitary authority (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.

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