permission

American  

[per-mish-uhn] / pərˈmɪʃ ən /

noun

• permissions
  plural

1. authorization granted to do something; formal consent.

   to ask permission to leave the room.

   Synonyms:

   sanction, leave

   Antonyms:

   refusal, restraint

2. the act of permitting.

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permission British  

/ pəˈmɪʃən /

noun

1. authorization to do something

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpermission
  noun
• self-permission
  noun
• permissioned
  adjective
• permissory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• permissions
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of permission

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin permissiōn-, stem of permissiō “a yielding, giving leave,” from permiss(us) “given leave” (past participle of permittere “to let go through, give leave”; see permit ¹) + -iō -ion

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Explanation

If you give someone approval to do something, you are giving them permission. Think of the permission slip your parents sign to let you go on a field trip––they are approving your going on the trip. Permission has the same Latin root word as permit. They both come from permittere, which means to allow to go or pass through. Permission can be given in writing, it can be given orally, or it can be assumed or unspoken––by passing the box of cookies around the room you're giving everyone tacit permission to help themselves.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

permission permissions

Police also declined to identify the armed bystander, saying he hadn’t given them permission to name him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

She thought he was going to continue to be a bull in a china shop, big swings and big ideas and asking for forgiveness, not permission.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

MarketWatch will not attribute your comments to you by name without your permission.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

Campbell received permission from the procedure committee -- which considers protocol in the Lords, whose origins date back to the 11th century -- to use the technology.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

He picked up one of the mittens, then glanced at me as though asking permission.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Muse engineers said the bot had exploited a permissions setting on his Mac computer he didn’t realize was applicable.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

There are only human software engineers, product managers and corporate boards deciding which guardrails are worth the latency cost and which permissions can be skipped in the race to market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

But the immediate fixes are possibly more mundane: more landing stations, greater geographical diversity, faster permissions, protected cable routes and an Indian repair capability.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

According to Windward, an Iranian radio transmission warned all vessels in the area that any crossing without identification signals or Iranian permissions would be at their own risk.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

The war seemed fought with as much paper as bullets, what with the letters and the passes and permissions piled on the table, orders received and recorded, recordings of conferences noted down.

From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Related Words

• acceptance
• acknowledgment
• admission
• agreement
• approval
• concession
• dispensation
• endorsement
• license
• permit
• privilege
• recognition
• warrant

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