in the name of

1. Under the designation of, as in They burned witches at the stake in the name of piety . [Late 1300s]

2. in one's own name . On one's own behalf, as in Mary signed the check for John in her own name . [Late 1800s]

3. Under the possession or ownership of, as in The certificate of ownership was rightfully in my name . [Mid-1900s]

4. By the authority of, as in Open up, in the name of the law! [Late 1300s]

5. in God's or heaven's name ; in the name of God or heaven . With appeal to, as in In the name of God, stop that noise! or What in heaven's name are you doing? [c. a.d. 900]

6. On behalf of, as in She made a donation in her daughter's name . [Late 1300s]

Example Sentences

But Goldstein never grapples with the implications of endorsing a framework that, in the name of scrupulously avoiding “political” prosecutions, would require prosecutors to look the other way basically anytime a president commits a crime—no matter how worthy of prosecution the crime may be, and no matter how threatening the crime is to the democratic order that Goldstein says he is so concerned with preserving.

From Slate

"This court hopes that by the time the convict leaves prison, he would have learnt that abusing people in the name of getting content is bad," she said.

From BBC

His witch hunt had to be conducted in the name of saving the country from communism.

From Salon

Justice and free speech are getting crushed in the name of “justice” and “free speech.”

From Slate

One civilization is authoritarian, which claims to rule in the name of the people; the other is an anarchistic society in which everyone looks out for one another.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• through