license
/ˈlʌɪs(ə)ns
/(British also licence)
verb [with object]
1Grant a licence to: a pub has to be licensed by the local justices [with object and infinitive]: he ought not to have been licensed to fly a plane (as adjective licensing) a licensing authority...
- The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 requires a keeper of a dangerous wild animal to be licensed by the local authority and to take out insurance against liability to third parties.
- Each signed a separate agreement and each agreement provided that the licensor might also occupy the premises or might license others to occupy jointly with the licensees.
- A vehicle with seven seats or less, like a black cab, was classed as a taxi and had to be licensed by the local authority.
Synonyms
permit, allow, authorize, grant/give a licence to, grant/give a permit to, grant/give authorization to, grant/give authority to, grant/give the right to, grant/give leave to, grant/give permission to;
warrant, certify, accredit, empower, give power to, entitle, enable, validate, charter, franchise, give the stamp of approval to, give approval to, let;
recognize, qualify, sanction
informal OK, rubber-stamp
1.1Authorize the use, performance, or release of (something): the company expect that the drug will soon be licensed for use in the USA...
- The publishers are trying to get this changed, for until it is there are a number of authors' agents who won't let the publishers license their authors' audiobooks to audible.
- There were difficulties in obtaining a licence to publish the Dialogue, and soon after it was licensed at Rome the sudden death of Prince Cesi disorganized the Lincean Academy which had intended to publish it.
- Hypericum perforatum extracts are licensed in continental Europe for the treatment of depression and anxiety.
1.2 dated Permit (someone) to do something: [with object and infinitive]: he was licensed to do no more than send a message...
- At worst it licenses us to hate and abuse those who are different.
- The friendship licensed him to write love-letters which he could deny were love-letters even as he nudged her into thinking that they were.
Derivatives
licensable
- Each installation displaces or pre-empts a sale of proprietary, licensable and copyright-protected software.
- He explains why so many studios are channeling their resources into big, special-effects-driven fantasies with licensable characters and targeted at juvenile audiences.
- However, after months of development, it is now available as a licensable product, a software solution that Web designers can use in-house to create sites and CD-ROMs that work together seamlessly.
licenser
/ noun ...- The licensers are comparable to the Inquisition: they must either claim infallibility or ‘bewitch’ their fellow citizens with Latin phrases.
- They are using badly forged ID cards in an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of professional DSHS licensers.
- While guarantees vary, licensers frequently demand about 50% of the sales forecast.
licensor
/ noun ...- Thus attribution can be to the author, or to another entity, or both, as the licensor specifies.
- It is argued that proponents of such development methods must engage in policy discussions to limit the exclusionary authority of intellectual property licensors, by ensuring broad user rights to protected works.
- It's the one place you can see so many licensors.
Origin
Late Middle English: from licence. The spelling -se arose by analogy with pairs such as practice, practise.