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  • laissez-passer
    laissez-passer
    noun
    a permit; pass, especially one issued in lieu of a passport.
  • laissez passer
    laissez passer
    noun
    a document granting unrestricted access or movement to its holder

laissez-passer

American  
[les-ay-pa-say, le-say-pah-say] / ˈlɛs eɪ pæˈseɪ, lɛ seɪ pɑˈseɪ /

noun

  • laissez-passers,
    plural
  • laissez-passer
    plural
  1. a permit; pass, especially one issued in lieu of a passport.


laissez passer British  
/ lese pase /

noun

  1. a document granting unrestricted access or movement to its holder

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of laissez-passer

< French: literally, allow to pass


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:

He carried a laissez-passer from the Eritrean government, allowing him a one-time entry into the country.

From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2016

In a joint letter to the foreign ministers of six Balkan countries, seen by Reuters, de Maiziere and Steinmeier asked them to accept so-called "laissez-passer" documents.

From Reuters ● Oct. 23, 2015

Unsuccessful asylum-seekers often cannot be sent back to their home countries if they do not have passports, and getting laissez-passer paperwork recognized often takes a long time.

From Reuters ● Oct. 23, 2015

Strauss-Kahn has a laissez-passer travel document issued by the United Nations.

From BusinessWeek ● Jun. 16, 2011

With my laissez-passer you could have gone anywhere in Tibet.

From Beasts, Men and Gods by Ferdinand Ossendowski

This point alone should suffice to differentiate Jefferson's system from physiocracy, since the Physiocrats had adopted as their motto the famous laissez faire laissez passer and were certainly in favor of free trade.

From Thomas Jefferson The Apostle of Americanism by Gilbert Chinard

The famous axiom, laissez faire, and laissez passer, the subversive tendencies of which people affect to condemn, was not invented by Quesnay.

From Principles Of Political Economy by John J. (John Joseph) Lalor

We have been wrong, says Rossi, in reproaching Quesnay for his famous laissez faire, laissez passer, which is pure science.

From Principles Of Political Economy by John J. (John Joseph) Lalor

Let human institutions conform to nature; enlarge the bounds of freedom; give play to the spirit of individualism; diminish the interference of government—"laissez faire, laissez passer."

From A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. by Edmund Gosse

On one of them was found a laissez passer in the name of Edward Seyer, of Badonviller.

From The New York Times Current History, A Monthly Magazine The European War, March 1915 by Various

Her hands were steady; she was even smiling as she produced two neat little packets that, on being unfolded, proved to have all the air of permits, laissez-passers, and police cards.

From The Firefly of France by Marion Polk Angellotti

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