the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. One to whom a command or charge is given; hence, specifically, a person to whom the pope has, by his prerogative, given a mandate or order for his benefice.
n. One who undertakes to discharge a specific business commission; a mandatory.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. One to whom a command or charge is given; one who has received and holds a mandate to act for another; an attorney.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. the recipient of a mandate
Word Usage
"AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR, ACCORDING TO plans laid during it, France became the mandatary power, under the League of Nations, in what today is Syria and Lebanon."