authorize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give authority or official power to; empower.
to authorize an employee to sign purchase orders.
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to give authority for; formally sanction (an act or proceeding).
Congress authorized the new tax on tobacco.
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to establish by authority or usage.
an arrangement long authorized by etiquette books.
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to afford a ground for; warrant; justify.
verb
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to confer authority upon (someone to do something); empower
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to permit (someone to do or be something) with official sanction
a dealer authorized by a manufacturer to retail his products
Other Word Forms
- authorizable adjective
- authorization noun
- authorizer noun
- deauthorize verb (used with object)
- misauthorize verb (used with object)
- preauthorize verb (used with object)
- reauthorize verb (used with object)
- self-authorizing adjective
Etymology
Origin of authorize
1350–1400; earlier auctorize < Medieval Latin auctōrizāre; replacing Middle English autorisen < Middle French autoriser < Medieval Latin See author, -ize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
State Department authorize nonemergency U.S. government personnel and their family members to leave Israel “due to safety risks,” which weren’t specified.
From MarketWatch
Another clause authorizes the President to cut tariffs if a U.S. trade surplus creates “fundamental international payments problems.”
However, analysis from the Climate Action Center of Excellence, a Doha-based initiative that helps countries prepare for Article 6, seen by WSJ Pro Sustainable Business, indicates numerous countries will struggle to authorize further credits.
Here, they held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which authorizes the president to “regulate” the “importation” of goods, doesn’t encompass the power to impose tariffs.
“IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” the ruling reads.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
