permit
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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permits,
present (3rd person singular)
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permitted,
past participle, past
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permitting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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permits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
permitted,
past participle, past
-
permitting
present participle
-
to grant permission; allow liberty to do something.
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to afford opportunity or possibility.
Write when time permits.
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to allow or admit (usually followed byof ).
statements that permit of no denial.
noun
verb
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(tr) to grant permission to do something
you are permitted to smoke
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(tr) to consent to or tolerate
she will not permit him to come
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to allow the possibility (of)
the passage permits of two interpretations
his work permits him to relax nowadays
noun
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an official certificate or document granting authorization; licence
-
permission, esp written permission
Usage
What are other ways to say permit?
To permit is to allow someone to do something. How is permit different from allow and let? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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permitsimple
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permitssimple
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have permittedperfect
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has permittedperfect
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am permittingprogressive
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are permittingprogressive
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is permittingprogressive
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have been permittingperfect progressive
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has been permittingperfect progressive
Past
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permittedsimple
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had permittedperfect
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was permittingprogressive
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were permittingprogressive
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had been permittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of permit1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin permittere “to let go through, give leave,” equivalent to per- per- + mittere “to let or make (someone) go”; see admit, commit, etc.
Origin of permit2
An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; apparently by folk etymology from Spanish palometa palometa
Explanation
Permit means to allow. When you permit your brother to come into your room, you let him in. (You can always kick him back out if he messes with your stuff.) To permit means to let someone do something. It comes from the Latin permittere which means "give up, allow to pass through." You might feel like you "gave up" when you permitted your brother to enter your room. As a noun, a permit is a document that lets you do something — like when you get a driver's permit to learn to drive, or a gun permit to carry a gun, or even a construction permit to build an addition to your house.
Vocabulary lists containing permit
Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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This Week in Words: January 20 - 26, 2018
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 5
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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:
The regulator has determined this meant EET Fuels broke its permit conditions 58 times over the two-year period - which could amount to an illegal offence.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The U.S. will temporarily permit the highway use of dyed diesel, a tax-exempt fuel typically used for farming, the Journal’s Collin Eaton writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Shanmugam characterized Boulder’s case as “unprecedented,” and argued that the Constitution does not permit individual localities to “use state law to regulate global conduct.”
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
Public statements she has already made about the case raise serious questions about whether state ethics rules permit her to participate in the case at all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
The man told Cullen that he didn't have any papers of identification or a fishing permit.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
But vendors require permits that show the origin of the animals.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The senior labor relations major supports a moratorium on student-event permits, proposed due to what the mayor called the school’s “appalling response” to the allegations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Von Wilpert supported affordable housing developments as a city council member by fast-tracking permits and building affordable homes in transit-oriented neighborhoods.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The "new generation" focused on building small illegal outposts and agricultural projects without permits from Israeli authorities -- a strategy known as "minimum people on maximum land".
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
At one point the group had to suspend work for eight months while La Condamine rode off to Lima to sort out a problem with their permits.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Such discharges can be permitted by the Environment Agency under specified circumstances.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The department would also be permitted to conduct regular audits to flag officers who use the system frequently or conduct unusual searches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
The moments are rare—and therefore gratefully encountered—when John and Adelaide are permitted to take pleasure in the “pure joy” of their playing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
But reports from the EA into activities at the refinery, uncovered by environmental journalists SourceMaterial, show that in 2023 and 2024 the permitted levels for chemical releases were exceeded hundreds of times.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
For the time being, the Boss would spare Hurley’s, Macklin’s, and Greenstreet’s teams in order to return to Ocean Camp for supplies when conditions permitted.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Copper ore grades are declining, pushing up the cost of extracting copper, and mine projects face high permitting and regulatory hurdles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Miracle of miracles, a draft bipartisan permitting bill emerged in the Senate last week that—dare to hope—could pass in the lame duck session.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Another thing about permitting reform: No one has ever discovered a way to make a joke involving the words permitting reform, and we’re not about to try.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026
The gradual emergence of mazelike permitting processes further slowed more ambitious new refining projects, at least in some areas.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Chapter 4 sketches how food production—that is, the growing of food by agriculture or herding, instead of the hunting and gathering of wild foods—ultimately led to the immediate factors permitting Pizarro’s triumph.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
