on approval

1. To be returned if not satisfactory, as in They're offering custom-made shoes, manufactured from a computer design, on approval. This expression, applied nearly always to the purchase of goods, was first recorded in 1870.

Example Sentences

They’re waiting on approval from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Members of Chancellor Merz's conservatives have warned that the insistence on approval by the Bundestag before reintroducing conscription could delay matters too much.

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State funding of $70 million depends on approval from legislators and Newsom, and the governor may require companies to spend the money on new hires, a position many publishers probably will resist.

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Paramount’s special committee has discussed conditioning the deal on approval by a vote of a majority of minority shareholders.

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Though Ms. Redstone is eager to reach a deal, it hinges on approval from Paramount’s board, which has for weeks been weighing its options with the help of advisers.

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Related Words

• empirical 
• preliminary 
• unproved