Meaning & use
search warrant
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
An official written order from a judge that lets police search a particular place for evidence of a crime.
Grammar: Used with verbs like get, issue and execute: the judge issued a search warrant.
Patterns
- a search warrant for something
- obtain a search warrant
- execute a search warrant
Detectives came to the house with a search warrant.
The judge refused to sign a search warrant without stronger evidence.
Without a search warrant, the officers could not enter the apartment.
Word forms
| plural | search warrants |
|---|
Common combinations
- obtain a search warrant
- Police obtained a search warrant after the tip came in.
- issue a search warrant
- The court issued a search warrant for the office.
- execute a search warrant
- Officers executed the search warrant at dawn.
- serve a search warrant
- Agents served a search warrant on the company's headquarters.
- a valid search warrant
- Evidence found without a valid search warrant may be thrown out.
Synonyms and how they differ
- warrant
- Shorter and broader, since a warrant could also authorize an arrest, while a search warrant is only about searching.
- court order
- Covers any order from a judge, so it is far less specific than a search warrant.
Word family
Commonly confused: search warrant or arrest warrant?
search warrant vs arrest warrant
An arrest warrant allows police to detain a person, whereas a search warrant allows them to search a place.
Practice
The police could not enter the flat because they did not yet have a ___.
Choose one answer.
A search warrant is the legal permission officers need to enter and search. A guarantee is a promise about a product and has no legal link to entry.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “search warrant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.