in the name of
195
3.7
- idiom
- Formal
:
en nombre de
- We have a battle on our hands, and we have to go fight it in the name of Jesus Christ.
- in the name of the law
- in the name of authority
- in the name of the public
Narcissists know that optimists will keep cutting them slack in the name of positivity.
- Narcissists know that optimists will keep cutting them slack in the name of positivity.
- Not Marxism, but implementation of Marxism in the name of communism.
- When people acting in the name of the state kill people, that's supposedly fine.
- We have a battle on our hands, and we have to go fight it in the name of Jesus Christ.
- As a child, you had to learn to endure and accommodate in the name of survival.
- Extreme drought, extreme fires, extreme development with extreme policy shifts needed in the name of climate change.
- That is the threat of ISIS and violent extremism in the name of Islam.
- And I will never accept the idea that destroying civil liberties in the name of security is a worthwhile trade off.
- People say in the name of Jesus Christ, leave my house and they have to leave your house.
Examples
-
He fires a shot into the air and screams something like in the name of Jesus Christ, go away.
-
We who are baptized in the name of Jesus consider his way the only way.
Fiction book (1998) -
- In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
-
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
-
Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
-
Patients were seen as having a service to perform in the name of science and the advancement of knowledge.
-
The irony is that all this has been done in the name of the American people.
Academic text (1993) -
Liberating this town in the name of the Republic.
-
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior.
-
The police entered the building in the name of the law to enforce the warrant.
Synonyms
1
9.9
In a way that shows the full official authority of a leader, for example the Pope
A Latin phrase meaning 'in the name of' used in legal or formal documents
Antonyms
How Authoritative
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines spatial preposition 'in' + 'name' and thus gives a clue that actions are being done 'under the name' or 'on behalf' of someone; many languages use an equivalent construction (e.g. Spanish 'en nombre de', French 'au nom de'), so the compositional logic is familiar. However, the shift from literal 'name' to the abstract sense of authority or sanction is a metaphorical extension that may not be fully predictable to an unexposed B1 learner, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
In the name of comes from the simple idea of using someone's name to show they allow or support an action. If you do something 'in the name of' a leader or group, you are acting with their 'authority', so the phrase means 'with the authority of' that person or group.