Other forms: warranties
A warranty is the maker's written promise that if the thing breaks in the first year or two, they will repair or replace it for nothing. It is the folded card at the bottom of the box with the kettle, under the polystyrene. Two-year warranty, parts and labour, keep your receipt.
You meet it in fixed phrases: the machine is still under warranty, the repair is out of warranty, opening the case yourself voids the warranty. Shops push extended warranties at the till for another thirty pounds on top. In law the word is narrower and means a term of a contract, a promise that what you have been told is true, such as a warranty that the roof does not leak. Guarantee is the everyday twin and it works as a verb too, so you can guarantee something but you cannot warranty it. And a warrant is a different animal altogether, the piece of paper the police bring to the door.
1nounwarrantyA written promise from a seller or maker to repair or replace a product that fails within a set period.
“The dishwasher is still under warranty, so the call-out costs nothing.”
synonyms: guarantee
2nounlawIn law, a term of a contract in which one side promises that a statement is true.
“The sale included a warranty that the accounts were accurate.”
warranty is a written promise.
Also accepted in games: guarantee
Warranty came through Middle English warantye from Anglo-Norman warrantie, the Norman form of Old French guarantie. English kept both forms of the same word, warranty from the Normans and guarantee from the central French version, which makes them twins rather than rivals. The same w-and-g split gave English warden beside guardian and ward beside guard.
Old French
guarantie
Anglo-Norman
warrantie
Middle English
warantye
English, today
warranty
From Middle English warantye, warantie, from Anglo-Norman warrantie, an fro-nor - variant of Old French guarantie (Modern French garantie). a doublet of guarantee and guaranty. More at warrant.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA