a green-colored traffic light used to signal drivers, pedestrians, etc., that they may proceed.
authorization; approval; permission.
The railroad has been given the green light on the proposed fare increase.
a signal to go, esp a green traffic light
permission to proceed with a project
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The UK government will shortly have to decide whether to give the green light to two oil fields – Rosebank and Jackdaw.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
A European Parliament committee had already given its green light but that approval was challenged and there was a call for an assembly vote.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
"Alongside yesterday's softer inflation figures and the tentative agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, this gives the Bank of England the final green light to vote for a hold this afternoon."
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
By the spring of 2025, senior DOJ officials had given the green light to proceed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
They were caught in the green light, curved around my legs staring at the standing form, ears cocked and heads turned sideways while they studied it.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
“So far, we’ve seen no pressure on wages by any measure,” Lorizio said, but any uptick could serve as the final push for Fed officials to green-light rate increases.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
The group concluded that there was a strong case to green-light the breeding program.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
The reform has the backing of governors from the Andean provinces, who would have greater latitude to green-light mining projects.
From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026
The punchline was that Reiner’s next one, “The Princess Bride,” wasn’t any easier to green-light.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
With that, she broke into a run for the green-light tunnel, leaving Jack staring after her with an open mouth.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
The FDA had green-lighted the design of Moderna’s trial years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
However in 2020 their legal challenge was dismissed by a federal court in Germany, which green-lighted construction to go ahead.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025
Many cities have relaxed controls on property deals imposed earlier to cool price bubbles, and some 6,000 property projects have been green-lighted for lending.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2024
Venezuela's National Assembly has green-lighted a referendum regarding a territorial dispute with Guyana, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said on Saturday in an address to the United Nations.
From Reuters ● Sep. 24, 2023
The green-lighted windows in its sides goggled at us.
From The White Invaders by Cummings, Ray
After writing a pilot on spec, he approached the executives at Crave — where he had previously produced “Letterkenny,” “Shoresy” and “Canada’s Drag Race” — about green-lighting a series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
Ahead of that meeting, Mr Sunak called the green-lighting of the march a "decision that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has made".
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
"Given current interest rates, Netflix will have to be very selective about green-lighting content and how they would finance it."
From Reuters ● Jan. 17, 2023
“Stop canceling shows that people like, stop green-lighting so many ridiculous shows that nobody’s gonna watch, and stop raising the price,” they say.
From The Verge ● May 6, 2022
The California Democrat noted an alert sent by the House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker who consulted with the Office of Attending Physician in green-lighting the extended public health emergency.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 29, 2021
Patel’s best hope is that the lawsuit is dismissed early, because it’s highly unlikely that the Atlantic green-lit a story they knew, as his lawsuit claims, to be full of “false and obviously fabricated allegations.”
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
European regulators have also green-lit treatments by Sydnexis for progressive childhood myopia and Atara-Pierre Fabre’s for a rare blood cancer, both of which were recently rejected by the FDA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
One red flag: It ends on a cliffhanger, and Season 2 has not been green-lit yet, despite the show shooting to the top of Netflix’s charts.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
If the deer removal is green-lit, locals will still be able to hunt during the designated season in the early phases of the project, the nonprofit said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025
Together they enter the dim, green-lit elevator, ascend to the fifth floor holding hands.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
