authorize

• authorise (non-Oxford British English)
• authourize (rare)

From Middle English auctorisen, from Old French auctorisier, from Medieval Latin auctorizare, from Latin auctor. See author about the orthography with <h>. Doublet of octroy.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔθəɹaɪz/, /ˈɑθəɹaɪz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɒθəɹaɪz/, /ˈɑθəɹaɪz/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːθəɹaɪz/
• Rhymes: -aɪz

authorize (third-person singular simple present authorizes, present participle authorizing, simple past and past participle authorized) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

1. (transitive) To grant (someone) the permission or power necessary to do (something); to permit; to sanction or consent to.

   Synonyms: license, permit

   Antonyms: ban, prohibit, deauthorize

   The General Assembly authorized the Council to take up the matter.

   The judge authorized the wiretapping.

   • 1986, Paul E. Szarmach, “Introduction”, in Studies in Earlier Old English Prose, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 2:

     The term “Alfredian” then is not univocal; it can mean, depending on the argument, anything from Alfred setting down words by himself, to Alfred working with a little or a lot of help in writing or dictating, or to Alfred authorizing another or others to act in his name with degrees of his personal involvement varying from much to nil.

   • 1995, Lee H. Hamilton, Daniel K. Inouye, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, →ISBN, page 305:

     Meese arrived back at the Justice Department at 12:45 p.m. and advised Reynolds, Cooper, and Richardson that the President had authorized him to "get his arms around the Iranian initiative."

   • 2007, Patricia Kruth, Henry Stobart, Sound, page 184:

     The soundingness of hearing and voicing constitute an embodied sense of presence and of memory. Voice then authorizes identities as identities authorize voice.