authorize
[aw-thuh-rahyz]
- to give authority or official power to; empower: to authorize an employee to sign purchase orders.
- to give authority for; formally sanction (an act or proceeding): Congress authorized the new tax on tobacco.
- to establish by authority or usage: an arrangement long authorized by etiquette books.
- to afford a ground for; warrant; justify.
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Also especially British, au·thor·ise.
Origin of authorize
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
empower, enable, okay, entitle, license, ratify, warrant, confirm, sanction, approve, endorse, bless, commission, vest, invest, accredit, affirm, tolerate, qualify, countenanceExamples from the Web for authorize
Contemporary Examples
The Senate will vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
He then called on Congress to authorize a program to train and equip 5,000 rebels per year in Saudi Arabia, which they did.
If you miss your session, you authorize the app to charge your credit card or PayPal account.
President Obama has asked Congress to authorize $500 million to train a new Syrian opposition out of Saudi Arabia.
Obama relied on the September 14 resolution, like Bush, to authorize drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
Historical Examples
I authorize you now to break all this to the family in any way you think best.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
What resolution had they come to, he asked, as he could not authorize them to fight?
However, will you authorize my father-in-law to undertake your case?
Doctor PascalEmile Zola
Certainly, I authorize M. Leveque to do so, and tell him that I thank him a thousand times.
Doctor PascalEmile Zola
If you authorize me to act for you, I have no doubt something can be arranged.
The Wall Street GirlFrederick Orin Bartlett
authorize
authorise
- to confer authority upon (someone to do something); empower
- to permit (someone to do or be something) with official sanctiona dealer authorized by a manufacturer to retail his products
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for authorize
v.
"give formal approval to," late 14c., autorisen, from Old French autoriser "authorize, give authority to" (12c.), from Medieval Latin auctorizare, from auctor (see author (n.)). Modern spelling from 16c. Related: Authorized; authorizing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper