green light
noun
a green-colored traffic light used to signal drivers, pedestrians, etc., that they may proceed.
Jump To:
-
green light
-
green-light
green-lightverb (used with object)to give permission to proceed; authorize.
green light
1 Americannoun
-
green lights
plural
-
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.
green-light
2
American
verb (used with object)
green-lighted,
green-lit,
green-lighting
green light
British
noun
-
a signal to go, esp a green traffic light
-
permission to proceed with a project
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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:
One of the largest media mergers in history has been given the green light after California and 11 other states settled lawsuits Monday.
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2026
The erbium ions perform the upconversion step, allowing the stored energy to emerge as green light.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
The agency gave it the green light in March as a second-line tool to be used only after traditional methods for dealing with choking have failed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
He says trial participants need to meet strict criteria before they are given the green light to start taking the real drug or a placebo.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Several months earlier, Kennedy had given the green light to the top secret Cable 24.3, sent by the US State Department to the American ambassador stationed in Saigon, South Vietnam.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
“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
Network executives couldn’t green-light them fast enough, and for a few years, it seemed that scripted programming would become the exception, found mostly on subscription-based platforms like HBO and Showtime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
As they watched, the green-light tunnel extended farther and farther, finally stopping at what looked to be twin tornadoes of swirling wind and snow.
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
County supervisors in late 2022 green-lighted an industrial real estate firm’s proposal to remove 117 homes and ranches in rural Bloomington to make way for more than 2 million square feet of warehouse space.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
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
Every afternoon, through the hours before her father came home, she sat in the cool, green-lighted drawing-room reading Evangeline aloud to her mother.
From Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair
Memos that recapped the results of each Pilot Season cycle were considered alongside other factors to help make green-lighting decisions, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2023
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
Federal Communications Commission on Thursday authorized Elon Musk's SpaceX to use its Starlink satellite internet network with moving vehicles, green-lighting the company's plan to expand broadband offerings to commercial airlines, shipping vessels and trucks.
From Reuters ● Jun. 30, 2022
“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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
