notary

UK/ˈnoʊtəɹi/US/ˈnoʊtəɹi/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,613 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: notaries

A notary is an official who witnesses signatures on documents. A notary public, sworn before a notary, take it to a notary.

The job matters most for documents going abroad, where a foreign office wants proof that the signature is genuine. In civil law countries a notary is a senior lawyer who drafts contracts and wills; in England and America the role is much narrower.

Definitions of notary

1nounnotaryAn official who witnesses signatures on documents.B2+
“We had to sign the house documents in front of a notary.”

notary is an official.

Where it comes from

Latin notarius meant a shorthand writer or clerk, from nota, a mark or note.

Latin
notārius
Old French
notarie
Middle English
notarie
English, today
notary

From Middle English notarie, from Old French notarie (French notaire), from Latin notārius.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Crime & Law

Practise this word

notary in the wild

Such a statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public or commissioner of oaths.
Affidavit
The term notary public only refers to common-law notaries and should not be confused with civil-law notaries.
Notary public
Any such practice is usually tightly regulated, and most countries parcel out areas into notarial districts with a set number of notary positions.
Civil-law notary
A notarius is a public secretary who is appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents (compare English "notary").
Notarius
In the canon law of the Catholic Church, a notary (Latin: notarius) is a person appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents.
Notary (Catholic canon law)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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