Jump To:

• 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-ay-pa-say, le-say-pah-say] / 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.

---

laissez passer British  

/ lese pase /

noun

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

---

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

If we go any farther," he argued, "the next officer who reads our papers will order us back to Brussels under arrest, and we will lose our laissez-passer.

From With the Allies by Richard Harding Davis

Let human institutions conform to nature; enlarge the bounds of freedom; give play to the spirit of individualism; diminish the interference of government—"laissez faire, laissez passer."

From A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. by Edmund Gosse

We have been wrong, says Rossi, in reproaching Quesnay for his famous laissez faire, laissez passer, which is pure science.

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

He was always decent to Americans, and he was shocked when he found that his laissez passer, which I obtained from him for the Hon. D. I.

From Ten Years Near the German Frontier A Retrospect and a Warning by Maurice Francis Egan

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