seal of approval

Idioms  

1. An endorsement of something or someone, as in Our candidate doesn't have the governor's seal of approval, or The new management gave the old refund policy their seal of approval. This idiom was used, and perhaps invented, as an advertising gimmick of Good Housekeeping Magazine, which gave its so-called “seal of approval” to products it endorsed; the products' packaging in turn bore a small emblem attesting to this endorsement. The noun seal here is used in the same sense as in set one's seal on.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

seal of approval

Still, while the European Union's election observation mission noted problems in how the vote was conducted, it gave its seal of approval.

From Barron's ● May 17, 2026

Taken together, these nearly 100 strategies — each of which had received the equivalent of an academic seal of approval — performed 58% worse after they were published than they did in-sample.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026

“Why in the world would we give a seal of approval or a thumbs up to make you the largest behemoth on the planet related to content?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026

“There’s a very loose seal of approval that we’re putting on this,” Parkes says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025

This outfit so wins the Indian-mom seal of approval.

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

Related Words

• advocacy
• affirmation
• approval
• backing
• commercial
• confirmation
• favor
• permission
• ratification
• recommendation
• signature