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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-ey-pa-sey, le-sey-pah-sey] / ˈlɛs eɪ pæˈseɪ, lɛ seɪ pɑˈseɪ /

noun

laissez-passers plural

1. a permit; pass, especially one issued in lieu of a passport.

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laissez passer British  

/ lese pase /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of laissez-passer

< French: literally, allow to pass

Example Sentences

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

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

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

The attorney said a laissez-passer travel document was in Strauss-Kahn’s Washington office and that William Taylor, his lawyer there, would take possession of it.

From BusinessWeek • May 17, 2011

It was a laissez-passer, signed and left in blank, with which he had been equipped—against the possibility of the need for it arising—when he had started upon the Convention's errand to the Army of Dumouriez.

From The Trampling of the Lilies by Sabatini, Rafael