approval

American  

[uh-proo-vuhl] / əˈpru vəl /

noun

• approvals
  plural

1. the act of approving; approbation.

2. formal permission or sanction.

3. Philately. one of a group of selected stamps sent by a dealer to a prospective customer for examination and either purchase or return.

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idioms

1. on approval, without obligation to buy unless satisfactory to the customer upon trial or examination and, otherwise, returnable.

   We ship merchandise on approval.

approval British  

/ əˈpruːvəl /

noun

1. the act of approving

2. formal agreement; sanction

3. a favourable opinion; commendation

4. (of articles for sale) for examination with an option to buy or return

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approval More Idioms  

1. see on approval; seal of approval.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonapproval
  noun
• preapproval
  noun
• reapproval
  noun
• self-approval
  noun
• proapproval
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• approvals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of approval

First recorded in 1680–90; approve + -al ²

Explanation

Approval is a formal agreement. It's probably not a good idea to mail the invitations for your beach party until you've gotten official approval for the enormous bonfire you're planning to light. Building designs, budgets, grant applications — these all require official approval before they can be put into effect. You can also use the word approval to talk about less formal permission, like a teacher's approval of your plan to buy pizza for the whole class. Approval also means the belief that something is good, like your approval of your neighbor's purple house. Until 1800, it was much more common for people to use the word approvance to mean the same thing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

approval approvals

They also received city approval to add digital signage to all four sides of the complex, which could bring in advertising revenue to a new owner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Le Maire suddenly had a 40 billion-euro hole to plug, a sum that he argued exceeded the government’s power to make cuts without the National Assembly’s approval.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

The financing remains subject to bankruptcy court approval and customary conditions.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Conditional approval is better than a rejection, but the message from the state and the county is fairly consistent: Making the necessary cuts will be hard and detrimental; not making them would be disastrous.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

A boy eager for the approval of his father, who keeps a sketch pad in his rucksack and draws plants and landscapes by starlight.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Under current rules, if the City Council doesn’t vote on an amendment within 75 days of the mayor and Planning Commission approvals, it’s automatically denied.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

But any approvals will still be subject to Chinese laws and regulations.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the first quarter of 2027, Schneider said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Extensive testing, additional development, and regulatory approvals would be required before it could be used to treat patients.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

The government’s engine of bureaucracy accelerated slowly, however, and although the Justice Department decided to make its move against him, it took time and approvals to decide when and where an arrest could be made.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

• blessing
• confirmation
• consent
• endorsement
• go ahead
• green light
• license
• mandate
• permission
• ratification
• recommendation
• sanction
• support