jurisdiction

noun

1)

an area under French jurisdiction

Syn:

authority, control, power, dominion, rule, administration, command, sway, leadership, sovereignty, hegemony

2)

foreign jurisdictions

Syn:

territory, region, province, district, area, domain, realm

••

jurisdiction, authority, command, dominion, power, sovereignty, sway

The authority of our elected officials refers to their power (often conferred by rank or office) to give orders, require obedience, or make decisions. Their authority is normally limited by their jurisdiction, which is a legally predetermined division of a larger whole, within which someone has a right to rule or decide (the matter was beyond his jurisdiction). The president of the United States has more power than any other American official, which means that he has the ability to exert force or control over something. He does not, however, have the authority to make laws on his own. As commander in chief, he does have command over the nation's armed forces, implying that he has the kind of authority that can enforce obedience. Back in the days when Great Britain had dominion, or supreme authority, over the American colonies, it was the king of England who held sway over this country's economic and political life — an old-fashioned word that stresses the sweeping scope of one's power. But his sovereignty, which emphasizes absolute or autonomous rule over something considered as a whole, was eventually challenged. The rest, as they say, is history.