COMMON If someone signs another person or organization's death warrant, they cause their ruin or death. The summit in Moscow this week virtually signed the organization's death warrant. It was not too extreme to say that to identify her might be tantamount to signing her death warrant. Note: You can say that a person or organization signs their own death warrant if they behave in a way which causes their own ruin or death. The president persuaded Congress to sign its own death warrant by agreeing to a referendum. The day that he accused the King of murder was the day he signed his own death warrant, and he knew it. Note: A death warrant is used in many other structures with a similar meaning. The plan is seen by all sides as a death warrant for the state. His signal had been innocuous enough, but it would become his death warrant as soon as Pemberton was interrogated. Note: A death warrant is an official document which orders that someone is to be executed as a punishment for a crime.