warrantless

W4A1R1R1A1N1T1L1E1S1S1
UK/ˈwɒɹəntləs/

adjective

Of a search, arrest, etc. executed without a warrant.

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

adjectivewarrantless (not comparable)
  1. not comparablegovernmentOf a search, arrest, etc. executed without a warrant.

    "The breadth of this LPR system is spectacular and amounts to a warrantless search."

    2023 July 24, Chris Eberhart, “NY police used AI to track drivers on highways as attorney questions legality”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2023
    3 more examples

    In 1993 the CIA instituted an unwritten policy of conducting warrantless searches of entire buildings if random gunfire occurred in the area.

    2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order

    Among the Democrats' examples of Gonzales' untruthfulness was his emphatic and repeated statement to the Judiciary Committee Tuesday that his dramatic nighttime visit to the bedside of Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004 was not related to an internal administration dispute about the president's secret warrantless eavesdropping program.

    2007 July 26, Brian Zick, “FBI Director Mueller Contradicts Gonzales”, in In These Times

    Now, at the time, I was also a named plaintiff in a major lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the Department of Justice, petitioning the courts to put a halt to the warrantless wiretapping of American residents and citizens.

    2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2010, page 255
  2. not comparablerareSynonym of unwarranted.

    Synonyms: unwarranted

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveSynonym of unwarranted.

Origin

  1. Englishwarrant
  2. Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
  4. Proto-Germanic*leusaną
  5. Proto-Germanic*lausaz
  6. Englishwarrantless

From warrant + -less.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

warrantless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warrantless

MLA

“warrantless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warrantless. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “warrantless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warrantless.

Source: warrantless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.