Synonyms

endorse

American

[en-dawrs] / ɛnˈdɔrs /

verb (used with object)

to approve, support, or sustain.

to endorse a political candidate.

Synonyms:

second, back, sustain, uphold, ratify, sanction
to designate oneself as payee of (a check) by signing, usually on the reverse side of the instrument.
to sign one's name on (a commercial document or other instrument).
to make over (a stated amount) to another as payee by one's endorsement.
to write (something) on the back of a document, paper, etc..

to endorse instructions; to endorse one's signature.
to acknowledge (payment) by placing one's signature on a bill, draft, etc.

noun

Heraldry. a narrow pale, about one quarter the usual width and usually repeated several times.

endorse British

/ ɪnˈdɔːs /

verb

to give approval or sanction to
to sign (one's name) on the back of (a cheque, etc) to specify oneself as payee
commerce
1. to sign the back of (a negotiable document) to transfer ownership of the rights to a specified payee
2. to specify (a designated sum) as transferable to another as payee
to write (a qualifying comment, recommendation, etc) on the back of a document
to sign (a document), as when confirming receipt of payment
to record (a conviction) on (a driving licence)

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of endorse

First recorded in 1350–1400; variant (with en- for in- ) of earlier indorse, from Medieval Latin indorsāre “to endorse,” equivalent to Latin in- in- ² + -dorsāre, derivative of dorsum “back”; replacing endoss, Middle English endossen, from Old French endosser, equivalent to en- en- ¹ + -dosser, derivative of dos, from Latin dorsum

Explanation

To endorse is to give support to someone or something. "I endorse this!" means "I think this is a good thing, and so should you." People endorse in many ways. When someone endorses a politician, it means "You should vote for this person, and I'm putting my reputation on the line to say so." When someone endorses a product in a commercial, it means "Go buy this! You'll like it." To endorse is to give support. You can also endorse a check, which means writing your name or someone else's on the back so that you or the other person can cash or deposit it.

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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.

See Examples For:

endorse endorses endorsed endorsing

So, for example, with the PCE data, he expects it will endorse his view that inflation pressures are cooling.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

While he declined to endorse a candidate, Sarwar warned the contenders and their teams against infighting as the race becomes more embittered.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

The report states that reviewers “were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations . . . nor did they see the final draft before its release.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Civil servant and ruling party member Noel Urbina, 45, told AFP he does not believe Chavistas would endorse Rodriguez in a leadership contest -- a move which marks a break with the past, experts say.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

To give voting rights to African Americans over women was to endorse what Stanton called the “aristocracy of sex.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

He endorses an aphorism from Arrigo Sacchi, a legendary Italian manager, who described soccer as “the most important of the least important things.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

It is lost on me how he could square those poetic words with the decision he endorses in Callais.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026

The EFF instead endorses robust data privacy legislation that better informs users of what information they’re often unintentionally giving away when they agree to Big Tech’s terms and conditions.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2026

“I’m disappointed most of them will be on the ballot,” said Lorena Gonzalez, the head of the California Federation of Labor Unions, which will announce whether it endorses in the governor’s race on March 16.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026

If some celebrity endorses a brand of dog food, or some cabdriver disapproves of the mayor’s handling of a dilemma, there’s obviously no reason to accord statistical significance to these personal expressions.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

After an unconvincing showing in the first round, he eventually endorsed both Evette and her opponent in the runoff, which Evette lost by a 2-to-1 margin.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

Bessent has also endorsed “regular and predictable,” yet departed from it in announcing the buyback Wednesday just two weeks after the last quarterly refunding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

The European Commission endorsed that recommendation earlier this month.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

The letter from DSA members was not endorsed by a specific chapter of the group, but did include signatures of top members of the organization, according to the New York Times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Thupa Inka closeted himself with the local leadership and laid out many inspired ideas for the valley’s betterment, all of which were gratefully endorsed.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The challenge for brands is to acknowledge that development without endorsing the extremes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

He has continued this crusade, recently endorsing a $20 minimum wage and speaking out against the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

"You can shape a treatment to fit the belief system without explicitly endorsing it," French said, conceding an exorcism might even have a beneficial placebo effect in some cases.

From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026

Andy Burnham spoke up in favour of the nuclear test veterans on Tuesday evening in his first speech in parliament since his re-election last month, endorsing their call for a "special tribunal".

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

And so his texts played a decisive role in legitimizing the new post-Kuhnian history of science because they were wrongly read as endorsing a thoroughgoing relativism.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023