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)
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permitted,
past participle, past
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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:
Yet, a majority voted to permit their production, arguing with a straight face that having “regulated peptides” was somehow better than letting people buy unvetted black-market remedies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Companies often take on the financial risk of new projects and then wait for a permit and corresponding funding—in some cases only to find the process gets stopped years later.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
But shortly after Princes launched its new product as "jack mackerel", the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs changed its rules to permit the labelling.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
“If we lose our work permit, we lose our job. We lose our stability. We lose everything,” Sanchez said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Paul didn’t want problems with the authorities, so early in the planning process she met with the District of Columbia’s police superintendent, Richard Sylvester, to obtain a parade permit.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
Her group reached out to Barrio Athletics founder Henry Gallardo soon after the video emerged, to let him know that he had to pull permits to hold a public event, just like everyone else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
She said permits and financing can determine where investments are made and that the bloc needs to move much faster on permitting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
They will now be able to take their registered gun out of their home, provided their permits remain up to date.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Inditex, which operates in 215 markets worldwide, said its business model, "characterised by flexibility, responsiveness and within-season sourcing, permits us to react to fashion trends, reinforcing our unique market position" in a fragmented sector.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
But the slow accretion of new functions permits the city to work more or less continuously through the centuries.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
"This case should serve as a reminder that illegal gold panning is not permitted on NRW-managed land and those who ignore the rules may face prosecution."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
High school students permitted to use ChatGPT as a study aid soared through practice questions, but performed worse on tests than peers without AI once the tool was taken away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Miya Ando, an artist who was permitted to come in person to select her piece of steel for a London memorial, remembers a sense of holiness within the hangar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
It has only been possible for tourists to visit the island of Sazan since 2015, and no overnight stays are permitted.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Small tastes of freedom, joy, and celebration were permitted, or even encouraged, because from the master’s point of view, it made sense to allow a measure of comfort and happiness.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
If an under-18-year-old is stopped by the police, their parents could potentially be accused of "causing or permitting" a driving offence with a possible £300 fine and six penalty points.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Airbnb’s housing initiative also will support advocacy efforts aimed at changing regulations around zoning, permitting and building codes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Diversifying infrastructure across multiple geographies can help hyperscalers reduce regulatory, permitting, and political concentration risk over time,” Lee said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
Ashton said he gave up after hiring two architects and spending more than $20,000 on a byzantine permitting process that, he believed, held his business to an unfair standard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Dreams were the key to the picture, permitting a boy to enter it, to stand at the crest of the windswept ridge, to climb toward the summit, now no longer far above.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
