Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for laissez-passer. Search instead for laissezpasser.
Jump To:
  • 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
  • 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

The UN modifies laissez-passer agreements based on the status of the relevant organization and its officials.

From BusinessWeek Jun. 16, 2011

The reader will take it kindly if I put before his eyes the arguments for laissez-passer, introducing him, so to speak, into the presence of a secret meeting of economists.

From System of Economical Contradictions; or, the Philosophy of Misery by P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) Proudhon

Breaking with the traditions of the old régime, they take for their motto "laissez faire, laissez passer".

From The Stages in the Social History of Capitalism by Henri Pirenne

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

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

He was always decent to Americans, and he was shocked when he found that his laissez passer, which I obtained from him for the Hon. D. I.

From Ten Years Near the German Frontier A Retrospect and a Warning by Maurice Francis Egan

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

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training