green light

¹

noun

1. a green-colored traffic light used to signal drivers, pedestrians, etc., that they may proceed.
2. authorization; approval; permission:

   The railroad has been given the green light on the proposed fare increase.

green-light

²

verb (used with object)

, green·-light·ed or green·-lit, green·-light·ing.

1. to give permission to proceed; authorize:

   The renovation project was green-lighted by the board of directors.

green light

noun

1. a signal to go, esp a green traffic light
2. permission to proceed with a project

verb

1. to permit (a project, etc) to proceed

Example Sentences

Initial studies also got the green light to begin mapping the seafloor, investigating drilling needs, and looking into the project’s impact on wildlife.

From Singularity Hub 

Specifically, when participants’ recovery scores reached 67 percent and above, they got the green light to take on the day’s scheduled workouts.

From Outside Online

While it could give the project the green light, it also could rule against building it.

From Washington Post

In November, Eat Just, the maker of Just Egg, became the first firm anywhere to receive regulatory approval for selling cultivated meat, after being given the green light in Singapore for its lab-grown chicken.

From Time

We asked to interview them for this series and eagerly await a green light from Fox News.

From Washington Post

Everyone has a green light, and our goal every game is to get 100 points.

From The Daily Beast

NBC stumbled onto a monster of a television show when it gave the green light to Friends in 1994.

From The Daily Beast

In addition to the green light for the rape, the village council also ordered the woman to marry one of her attackers.

From The Daily Beast

No one—not the United States and definitely not the United Nations—is going to give Israel that kind of open-ended green light.

From The Daily Beast

By allowing the Alessandra Bernarolis to stay married, it essentially has given the green light to civil unions.

From The Daily Beast

A mile and more away, in a great shaft of green light from which all other craft kept clear, a tremendous shape was dropping.

From Project Gutenberg

"No al fresco dining tonight," said John, as the darkening sky was veined by a sudden spray of blue-green light.

From Project Gutenberg

"The Bassetts' dock is the green light; the red, white, and blue is Mrs. Owen's," explained the captain.

From Project Gutenberg

She would doubtless see more of her now: the green light and the red, white and blue were very close together.

From Project Gutenberg

For there, high up, was the green light of a distant rocket.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• approval
• assent
• blessing
• clearance
• consent
• go ahead
• permission
• seal of approval
• thumbs-up