approval
Americannoun
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the act of approving; approbation.
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formal permission or sanction.
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Philately. one of a group of selected stamps sent by a dealer to a prospective customer for examination and either purchase or return.
idioms
noun
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the act of approving
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formal agreement; sanction
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a favourable opinion; commendation
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(of articles for sale) for examination with an option to buy or return
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of approval
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.
Vocabulary lists containing approval
Face It: Selfie Vocab
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 9–October 15, 2021
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Catching Fire
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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.
Approval was then reversed after a review by Maine’s secretary of state found more than 12,500 signatures invalid for reasons ranging from duplicate signatures to signatories not matching local registration rolls.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 15, 2026
Approval had been expected because President Trump — who has friendly ties with Ellison and his father, tech billionaire Larry Ellison — favors the deal.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
Approval of FSD could help Tesla sell more cars.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026
Approval ratings for her government have mostly hovered above 70% since she first took office in October.
From BBC • Feb. 7, 2026
Approval by a two-thirds vote of the senators is necessary to the validity of the treaty.
From Government in the United States National, State and Local by Garner, James Wilford
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.
