certificate

Pluralcertificates

Formscertificates, certificating, certificated

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An official document that contains a statement confirmed as true by an authority.

   The notary issued a certificate verifying the authenticity of the signature.

   Each shipment arrived with a certificate confirming the goods met safety standards.

   Similarcertification, attestation

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A document showing that a person completed an educational course, given when a full diploma is not granted.

   The training program awards a certificate to participants who complete every module.

   He framed the certificate from his evening cooking course.

   Similarcredential

   Note

   Its meaning depends on the diploma it stands beside. There are two routes to it: a school that has no power to award diplomas gives certificates instead, and a school that does award them may give a certificate to a student who completed the course without meeting the diploma's requirements. In a list of credentials it therefore ranks below a diploma, even when the coursework behind it is complete.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A document that serves as proof of ownership of property or of a debt that is owed.

   Investors received a certificate confirming their ownership of company shares.

   The bond certificate detailed the amount the company owed each lender.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To provide a person or thing with a certificate, usually after an official check or certification.

   The agency certificates pilots only after they complete the required flight hours.

   Examiners certificate candidates once all the tests are passed.

   Similarcertify, license, accredit

5. 5
   nounabbreviationellipsis

   Short form of public key certificate.

   The server presented its certificate during the handshake to prove its identity.

   An expired certificate caused the secure connection to fail.

   Note

   The full phrase has been cut down to its last word, and context supplies the rest. In talk of servers, browsers and secure connections, certificate alone means the digital document that uses a signature to bind a public key to an identity. Where the paper sense could also be meant, such as in a security audit that covers both, the full public key certificate avoids ambiguity.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The information needed to verify that the answer to a problem is yes.

   The algorithm accepts a certificate and checks the proposed answer in seconds.

   For this problem, a valid certificate is a list of numbers that sum to the target.

   Similarwitness, proof

   Note

   Complexity theorists use the word for evidence that can be checked quickly. The class NP is defined through it: NP contains the problems whose "yes" answers come with a certificate that a verifier can confirm in polynomial time. Finding the certificate may be hard, but checking it is easy. The asymmetry matters too, because only a positive answer needs one, and a "no" carries no certificate in this sense.

7. 7
   nounBritishIrelandcountable

   An official rating assigned to a film, indicating the minimum age of viewers allowed to watch it.

   The board awarded the film a 15 certificate, barring younger viewers.

   Cinemas must check the certificate before admitting customers to a restricted film.

   Similarrating, classification

   Note

   British and Irish English treat the rating as a label that can sit after the word with no article: the film is certificate 15, much as one might give a grade. The number can also come first, as in a 15 certificate. American English usually calls the equivalent a rating, so certificate in this sense marks a speaker or text as British or Irish.

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