chartered

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of charter.

   The research team chartered a vessel to reach the remote atoll.

   The colony was chartered by the crown in 1620.

   Note

   One regular form serves as both past and participle, and it carries whichever verb is meant. A colony chartered by the crown was granted its founding rights, while a vessel chartered for a voyage was hired. In Canada, police also charter an arrestee, meaning they inform the person of their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before a noun, the participle shades into the adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Holding membership in the relevant professional body and the qualifications needed to practice a particular profession.

   He spent five years training before becoming a chartered surveyor.

   Only a chartered accountant may sign off on the audited statements.

   Similarqualified, certified, accredited, licensed

   Oppositeunqualified

   Note

   A professional title more than a description. It sits directly before the name of the profession, as in chartered surveyor or chartered accountant, and marks someone admitted to that profession's governing body with the qualifications it requires. It grew out of the institutional meaning: a word for an institution holding a charter came to describe a person whose standing comes through membership.

3. 3
   adjective

   Established or granted official rights and privileges by a charter, a formal written document issued by a sovereign or governing authority.

   The chartered bank operated under privileges granted more than a century ago.

   As a chartered city, it could levy its own tolls and hold markets.

   Similarincorporated, licensed

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