green light
noun
a green-colored traffic light used to signal drivers, pedestrians, etc., that they may proceed.
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green light
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green-light
green-lightverb (used with object)to give permission to proceed; authorize.
green light
1 Americannoun
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green lights
plural
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a green-colored traffic light used to signal drivers, pedestrians, etc., that they may proceed.
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authorization; approval; permission.
The railroad has been given the green light on the proposed fare increase.
green-light
2
American
verb (used with object)
green-lighted,
green-lit,
green-lighting
green light
British
noun
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a signal to go, esp a green traffic light
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permission to proceed with a project
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
The agency gave it the green light in March as a second-line tool to be used only after traditional methods for dealing with choking have failed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Prices are set internationally and a green light to Jackdaw would not lower the cost of gas for domestic consumers.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
After getting the green light, Worthe pulled back, and his permit expired.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Coincidentally, last March, Ward gave the green light for Carruthers’ execution after his attorneys had argued that Carruthers was not competent to be executed because he was “consumed by psychotic delusions.”
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Ah, we’re making different measurements today. Stand on the metal plate—oh, slip your shoes off first. Hold your daemon, if you like. Look forward, that’s it, stare at the little green light Good girl...”
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
“So far, we’ve seen no pressure on wages by any measure,” Lorizio said, but any uptick could serve as the final push for Fed officials to green-light rate increases.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
The group concluded that there was a strong case to green-light the breeding program.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
The reform has the backing of governors from the Andean provinces, who would have greater latitude to green-light mining projects.
From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026
Network executives couldn’t green-light them fast enough, and for a few years, it seemed that scripted programming would become the exception, found mostly on subscription-based platforms like HBO and Showtime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
We played red-light- green-light, tag, football, Red Rover, or nameless games that involved running hard, keeping up with the pack, and not crying if you fell down.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
The FDA had green-lighted the design of Moderna’s trial years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
However in 2020 their legal challenge was dismissed by a federal court in Germany, which green-lighted construction to go ahead.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025
After the talent agency purchased Universal Pictures in 1962, Kanter relocated to London and for seven years green-lighted European movies for the studio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2024
Venezuela's National Assembly has green-lighted a referendum regarding a territorial dispute with Guyana, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said on Saturday in an address to the United Nations.
From Reuters ● Sep. 24, 2023
The green-lighted windows in its sides goggled at us.
From The White Invaders by Ray Cummings
Premiering Wednesday on ABC and Disney+, this is apparently that rare thing in 21st century dealmaking and green-lighting, a pilot submitted for your approval.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026
Ahead of that meeting, Mr Sunak called the green-lighting of the march a "decision that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has made".
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
"Given current interest rates, Netflix will have to be very selective about green-lighting content and how they would finance it."
From Reuters ● Jan. 17, 2023
“Stop canceling shows that people like, stop green-lighting so many ridiculous shows that nobody’s gonna watch, and stop raising the price,” they say.
From The Verge ● May 6, 2022
The California Democrat noted an alert sent by the House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker who consulted with the Office of Attending Physician in green-lighting the extended public health emergency.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 29, 2021
A third season has already been green-lit, amid rumors that Meghan Markle might join the cast.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
It has also green-lit a multibillion-dollar plan for a 13-mile underground subway for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor linking the San Fernando Valley to the Westside.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Patel’s best hope is that the lawsuit is dismissed early, because it’s highly unlikely that the Atlantic green-lit a story they knew, as his lawsuit claims, to be full of “false and obviously fabricated allegations.”
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
European regulators have also green-lit treatments by Sydnexis for progressive childhood myopia and Atara-Pierre Fabre’s for a rare blood cancer, both of which were recently rejected by the FDA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
Together they enter the dim, green-lit elevator, ascend to the fifth floor holding hands.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
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.
