imprimatur

[ im-pri-mah-ter, -mey-, -prahy- ]

/ ˌɪm prɪˈmɑ tər, -ˈmeɪ-, -praɪ- /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for imprimatur on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

sanction or approval; support: Our plan has the company president's imprimatur.

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of imprimatur

First recorded in 1630–40; from New Latin: literally, “let it be printed,” Latin: literally, “let it be made by pressing upon (something)”; see impress¹

Words nearby imprimatur

impressive aphasia, impressment, impressure, imprest, imprest fund, imprimatur, imprimis, imprint, imprinter, imprinting, imprison

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use imprimatur in a sentence

Froomkin believes that, instead of helping struggling, smaller news organizations, Facebook News breaches traditional journalistic ethics and gives the maligned social media giant an undeserved imprimatur of legitimacy.
Media Briefing: How a wave of independent authors is spawning more media co-ops|Tim Peterson|April 22, 2021|Digiday
The size of the deal, and the imprimatur of the Pentagon as a customer, could spark business from other customers.
Microsoft wins $21 billion Army contract for augmented reality headsets|Aaron Gregg, Jay Greene|March 31, 2021|Washington Post
I happen to think that the Politico staffers were right to oppose their news organization granting its imprimatur to someone with Shapiro’s history of performative bigotry.
So you’re being held accountable? That’s not ‘cancel culture.’|Margaret Sullivan|January 31, 2021|Washington Post
It could settle in for a long run, which a Tony imprimatur would help.
Who Will Win the Tony Awards?|Janice Kaplan|June 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

What makes CEOs think that putting their imprimatur on a political movement will increase public pressure on the two parties?
Starbucks’ Effort to Solve the Fiscal Cliff Probably Won’t Work|Daniel Gross|December 26, 2012|DAILY BEAST
And yet, when he leaked the case to Congress, he carried the institutional imprimatur of the FBI in his attaché case.
Tim Weiner: Shadows of J. Edgar Hoover in the Petraeus Affair|Tim Weiner|November 16, 2012|DAILY BEAST
From a Wall Street perspective, Buffett got privileged, and not level-playing-field, access as a payoff for his imprimatur.
Obama Extols Warren Buffett as Hero, But to Wall Street He’s No Angel|Zachary Karabell|January 26, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The imprimatur of the Bank of England was plainly to be seen, and the huge figures stood out boldly.
The Everlasting Arms|Joseph Hocking
Editions with a clerical "imprimatur" have been always published where laymen have been substituted for these.
Giovanni Boccaccio, a Biographical Study|Edward Hutton
They should be exceedingly careful not to give their imprimatur to books which are Modernist in any way.
The War Upon Religion|Rev. Francis A. Cunningham
There is any amount of fundamental teaching there and the imprimatur of thousands of good men to assure us of it.
Life of John Coleridge Patteson|Charlotte M. Yonge
I comply with the request with much pleasure, though I feel that the paper needs no imprimatur of mine.
The Sabbath|Andrew Thomson

British Dictionary definitions for imprimatur

imprimatur

/ (ˌɪmprɪˈmeɪtə, -ˈmɑː-) /

noun

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

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

Word Origin for imprimatur

C17: New Latin, literally: let it be printed

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

imprimatur

Origin of imprimatur

Words nearby imprimatur

Words related to imprimatur

How to use imprimatur in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for imprimatur

Word Origin for imprimatur