approbate

American  

[ap-ruh-beyt] / ˈæp rəˌbeɪt /

verb (used with object)

approbated, approbating

1. to approve officially.

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approbate British  

/ ˈæprəˌbeɪt /

verb

1. Scots law to accept as valid

2. Scots law to accept part of a document and reject those parts unfavourable to one's interests

3. to sanction officially

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Other Word Forms

• approbator noun

Etymology

Origin of approbate

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin approbātus approved (past participle of approbāre ), equivalent to ap- ap- ¹ + probātus proved; probate

Example Sentences

We pick and choose, take and leave, approbate and reprobate in a breath.

From Obiter Dicta by Birrell, Augustine

Then if cunning Latin books were translate Into English, well correct and approbate, All subtle science in English might be learned, As well as other people in their own tongues did.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 1 by Hazlitt, William Carew

But says Vox Populi, perhaps the new plan will not have the same number to approbate it, that the constitution of this State had.

From Essays on the Constitution of the United States by Ford, Paul Leicester

Gracious knows, I don't approbate coarseness, it shocks me, but narvous sensibility makes me sick.

From Nature and Human Nature by Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

I approbate the one, I reprobate the other.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah