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• rubber stamp
  rubber stamp

  noun

  a device with a rubber printing surface that becomes coated with ink by being pressed on an ink-saturated pad, used for imprinting dates, addresses, standard designations or notices, etc., by hand.
• rubber-stamp
  rubber-stamp

  verb (used with object)

  to imprint with a rubber stamp.

rubber stamp

¹ American  

noun

1. a device with a rubber printing surface that becomes coated with ink by being pressed on an ink-saturated pad, used for imprinting dates, addresses, standard designations or notices, etc., by hand.

2. a person or government agency that gives approval automatically or routinely.

3. such approval.

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rubber-stamp ² American  

[ruhb-er-stamp] / ˈrʌb ərˈstæmp /

verb (used with object)

1. to imprint with a rubber stamp.

2. to give approval automatically or without consideration.

   to rubber-stamp the president's proposals.

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adjective

1. tending to give approval automatically or without due consideration.

   a rubber-stamp Congress that passed all the president's bills.

rubber stamp British  

noun

1. a device used for imprinting dates or commonly used phrases on forms, invoices, etc

2. automatic authorization of a payment, proposal, etc, without challenge

3. a person who makes such automatic authorizations; a cipher or person of little account

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verb

1. to imprint (forms, invoices, etc) with a rubber stamp

2. informal to approve automatically

rubber stamp Idioms  

1. A person or organization that automatically approves or endorses a policy without assessing its merit; also, such an approval or endorsement. For example, The nominating committee is merely a rubber stamp; they approve anyone the chairman names, or The dean gave his rubber stamp to the recommendations of the tenure committee. This metaphoric term alludes to the rubber printing device used to imprint the same words over and over. [Early 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of rubber stamp¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Origin of rubber-stamp²

First recorded in 1915–20; v. use of rubber stamp

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rubber stamp rubber-stamp

The board approves the EDC’s annual budget but when it comes to approving actual projects, it largely functions as a final rubber stamp.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

"It's very easy to be a rubber stamp, get that cheque, be nice to everyone else and just go along and be re-elected," Spartz said.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

"If we are rubber stamp, we will not propose so many comments," Leung said, referring to the approval of a homegrown national security law last year.

From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025

It’s merely a rubber stamp and a whitewash.

From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2025

First there came mimeographed letters of commendation, then real letters signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and not with a rubber stamp either.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

But it is far from a rubber-stamp process.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

He packed oversight commissions with appointees who would rubber-stamp his delusions of grandeur and did the same with the Kennedy Center, whose new board promptly renamed the performing arts venue for him.

From Slate ● May 18, 2026

Some 3,000 delegates from the CPPCC, an advisory body with no legislative power – and China's rubber-stamp legislature the National People's Congress – will gather in Beijing this week for the annual Two Sessions.

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026

Thousands of delegates from across China will convene for a carefully orchestrated affair in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, largely to rubber-stamp decisions by the ruling Communist Party under leader Xi Jinping.

From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026

In practical application, the rubber-stamp method means a rack of rubber stamps placed in the most advantageous position.

From Higher Education and Business Standards by Willard E. (Willard Eugene) Hotchkiss