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• laissez-passer
  laissez-passer

  noun

  a permit; pass, especially one issued in lieu of a passport.
• laissez passer
  laissez passer

  noun

  a document granting unrestricted access or movement to its holder

laissez-passer

American  

[les-ey-pa-sey, le-sey-pah-sey] / ˈlɛs eɪ pæˈseɪ, lɛ seɪ pɑˈseɪ /

noun

• laissez-passers,
  plural
• laissez-passer
  plural

1. a permit; pass, especially one issued in lieu of a passport.

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laissez passer British  

/ lese pase /

noun

1. a document granting unrestricted access or movement to its holder

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• laissez-passer
  plural
• laissez-passers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of laissez-passer

< French: literally, allow to pass

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

laissez-passer laissez passer laissez-passers

He carried a laissez-passer from the Eritrean government, allowing him a one-time entry into the country.

From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2016

In a joint letter to the foreign ministers of six Balkan countries, seen by Reuters, de Maiziere and Steinmeier asked them to accept so-called "laissez-passer" documents.

From Reuters ● Oct. 23, 2015

An EU "laissez-passer" is suggested to aid procedures in home or transit countries and should become "the standard travel document for the expulsion of third-country nationals".

From Reuters ● Oct. 7, 2015

Brafman said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had his client’s only passport and that a laissez-passer travel document was in Washington and that William Taylor, his lawyer there, would take possession of it.

From BusinessWeek ● May 16, 2011

Like every one else, from the proudest nobleman to the boy in wooden shoes, we were given a laissez-passer, which gave us permission to go anywhere; this with a passport was our only credential.

From With the Allies by Richard Harding Davis

On one of them was found a laissez passer in the name of Edward Seyer, of Badonviller.

From The New York Times Current History, A Monthly Magazine The European War, March 1915 by Various

The famous axiom, laissez faire, and laissez passer, the subversive tendencies of which people affect to condemn, was not invented by Quesnay.

From Principles Of Political Economy by John J. (John Joseph) Lalor

This point alone should suffice to differentiate Jefferson's system from physiocracy, since the Physiocrats had adopted as their motto the famous laissez faire laissez passer and were certainly in favor of free trade.

From Thomas Jefferson The Apostle of Americanism by Gilbert Chinard

I had all my papers in order—my passport, my "laissez passer," a letter from Mr. Bevan, explaining who I was and asking for "every facility" for me, and my photograph, properly stamped.

From My War Experiences in Two Continents by Betty Keays-Young Salmon

Breaking with the traditions of the old régime, they take for their motto "laissez faire, laissez passer".

From The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism by Henri Pirenne

Her hands were steady; she was even smiling as she produced two neat little packets that, on being unfolded, proved to have all the air of permits, laissez-passers, and police cards.

From The Firefly of France by Marion Polk Angellotti