authorize

/ˈɔθəɹaɪz/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Canada/ˈɒθəɹaɪz/

authorize verb: to grant (someone) the permission or power necessary to do (something); to permit; to sanction or consent to.

Verb

authorize (third-person singular simple present authorizes, present participle authorizing, simple past and past participle authorized)

(British, English, Oxford, US, ambitransitive) To grant (someone) the permission or power necessary to do (something); to permit; to sanction or consent to.
- The General Assembly authorized the Council to take up the matter.
- The judge authorized the wiretapping.
Synonyms:

license, permit

Antonyms:

ban, prohibit, deauthorize

authorize meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

authorize in Hindi

to authorize: इजाज़त देना ijāzat denā

authorize in Marathi

अधिकृत करणे

authorize in Urdu

to authorize: اجازت دینا ijāzat denā

authorize in Bengali

অনুমোদন দেওয়া, অধিকার প্রদান করা, ক্ষমতা অর্পণ করা

More languagesFewer languages

authorize in Malayalam: അധികാരപ്പെടുത്തുക
authorize in Kannada: ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ಕೊಡು
authorize in Gujarati: અધિકૃત કરવા
authorize in Nepali: अधिकृत गर्ने

Examples of authorize in a sentence

Meese arrived back at the Justice Department at 12:45 p.m. and advised Reynolds, Cooper, and Richardson that the President had authorized him to "get his arms around the Iranian initiative."1995, Lee H. Hamilton, Daniel K. Inouye, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, →ISBN, page 305:
Voice then authorizes identities as identities authorize voice.2007, Patricia Kruth, Henry Stobart, Sound, page 184:

All 20 example sentences with authorize

Synonyms of authorize

Antonyms

Forms of authorize

third-person singular present	authorizes
present participle	authorizing
past participle	authorized
past	authorized
alternative form	authorise
alternative form (rare)	authourize

Past tense of authorize: authorized

Origin of authorize

From Middle English auctorisen, from Old French auctorisier, from Medieval Latin auctōrizāre, from Latin auctor. See author about the orthography with ⟨h⟩. Doublet of octroy.

Words formed from authorize

Words that rhyme with authorize

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about authorize

What does authorize mean?: Authorize means to grant (someone) the permission or power necessary to do (something); to permit; to sanction or consent to.
What is authorize in Hindi?: Authorize in Hindi is इजाज़त देना (ijāzat denā). See Authorize meaning in Hindi.
How do you use authorize in a sentence?: Meese arrived back at the Justice Department at 12:45 p.m. and advised Reynolds, Cooper, and Richardson that the President had authorized him to "get his arms around the Iranian initiative."
What part of speech is authorize?: Authorize is a verb.
How do you pronounce authorize?: Authorize is pronounced /ˈɔθəɹaɪz/ (US).
What is the past tense of authorize?: The past tense of authorize is authorized.

Words near authorize in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: authorize (page history and authors); इजाज़त देना (Hindi) (page history and authors); authorize (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); اجازت دینا (Urdu) (page history and authors); authorize (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); authorize (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); authorize (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); authorize (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); authorize (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-authorize.ogg.

Cite this entry: “authorize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/authorize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.