imprimatur

[im-pri-mah-ter, im-prim-uh-ter, im-pri-mey-ter]

noun

1. an official license to print or publish a book, pamphlet, etc., especially a license issued by a censor of the Roman Catholic Church.

2. sanction or approval; support.

   Our plan has the company president's imprimatur.

imprimatur

/ -ˈmɑː-, ˌɪmprɪˈmeɪtə /

noun

1. RC Church a licence granted by a bishop certifying the Church's approval of a book to be published

2. sanction, authority, or approval, esp for something to be printed

Word History and Origins

Origin of imprimatur¹

First recorded in 1630–40; from New Latin: literally, “let it be printed,” Latin: literally, “let it be made by pressing upon (something)”; impress ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of imprimatur¹

C17: New Latin, literally: let it be printed

Example Sentences

The press’s hysterical reaction was perhaps inevitable given the convention of describing it as an “administration plan,” a “White House plan,” with the implied institutional imprimatur.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Kennedy is trying to help his trial-lawyer friends by giving a government imprimatur to their unscientific claims.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Treasury imprimatur and financing by sophisticated institutions may have given investors a false sense of security and caused them to relax underwriting standards.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Along with the kleptocratic Palestinian Authority dictatorship in Ramallah, this is who, and what, Group of 7 powers like Britain and France have decided to reward with an imprimatur of legitimate statehood.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Paul said he couldn't believe his fellow conservatives were falling in line behind the bill, just because it carries the gilded imprimatur.

Read more on Salon