license
Syllables: li·cense/ˈlaɪ.səns/
license noun: a legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit. Also the ellipsis of driver's license.
Noun
license (countable and uncountable, plural licenses)
- A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
- Hello. I would like to buy a fish licence please.1970, 0:1:15 from the start, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, season 2, episode 10, John Cleese (actor)
- The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.
- Thus, while the license will grant the user the right to use the software, a major concern is the scope of that use. For example, will the user be granted the right to copy, modify, or transfer the software?1986, Thomas Smedinghoff, The Legal Guide to Developing, Protecting, and Marketing Software, page 166
- Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech).
- In some instances, the author took license to include events which never happened, or to purposely create events which may run in the face of popular conjecture if the author felt it would help the story along.2012, Chris Seepe, The Conspiracy to Assassinate Jesus Christ, page 5
- Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
- I envy not the beast that takes
His license in the field of time,
Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes; […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 44 - When liberty becomes license dictatorship is near.1936, Will Durant, Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, page 520
- I envy not the beast that takes
Verb
license (third-person singular simple present licenses, present participle licensing, simple past and past participle licensed)
- To authorize officially.
- I am licensed to practice law in this state.
- To give formal authorization to use.
- It was decided to license Wikipedia under the GFDL.
- The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
- To acquire authorization to use, usually in exchange for compensation.
- The filmmakers licensed several iconic 80's songs for the soundtrack.
- As part of the strategic relationship, Microsoft has licensed the image segmentation, compression and viewing technology from ScanSoft.2000, International Journal of Micrographics & Optical Technology
- To give permission or freedom to; accept.
- Intruders there were in Harley Street, of whom it was not aware; but Mr and Mrs Merdle it delighted to honour. Society was aware of Mr and Mrs Merdle. Society had said ‘Let us license them; let us know them.’1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC
- To permit (as grammatically correct).
- No English adverbs have mandatory complements, and most don't even license optional ones.
- Kayne argues that the crucial fact which licenses preposition stranding in English but not in French is the fact that in English verbs and prepositions assign Case similarly, and hence they govern similarly.2014, Hagit Borer, Parametric Syntax: Case Studies in Semitic and Romance Languages
Also used as
license is also the ellipsis of driver's license.
license meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
license in Hindi
- legal document giving official permission to do something
- लाइसेंस lāisens, अनुज्ञा anujñā, अनुज्ञप्ति anujñapti, अनुज्ञापत्र anujñāpatra
- legal terms of product usage
- अनुज्ञप्ति anujñapti
license in Tamil
- legal document giving official permission to do something
- உரிமம் urimam
- legal terms of product usage
- உரிமம் urimam
license in Marathi
- परवाना, परवाने, परवानो
license in Urdu
- legal document giving official permission to do something
- لائِسِنْس lāisins, اِجازَت نامَہ ijāzat nāma, رُخْصَت ruxsat, اِذْن izn
More languagesFewer languages
- license in Bengali
- লাইসেন্স laiśenśo, এজাজতনামা ejajotnama
- license in Gujarati
- પરવાનો
- license in Odia
- ଲାଇସେନ୍ସ
- license in Nepali
- इजाजतपत्र, इजाजत पत्र
- license in Arabic
- رُخْصَة ruḵṣa, تَصْرِيح taṣrīḥ, إِذْن ʔiḏn
- license in Malay
- lesen
- license in Indonesian
- lisensi
- license in Thai
- อนุญาต à-nú-yâat, ใบอนุญาต bai-à-nú-yâat
- license in Vietnamese
- giấy phép, bằng
- license in Myanmar
- လိုင်စင် luingcang
Examples of license in a sentence
- They bought a license for the Gulliver font and installed that font on several machines.
- Unfortunately, the license plate is out of focus in this image.
- You need to have a portal to have a driver's license.
Forms of license
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | licenses |
| alternative Commonwealth noun | licence |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | licenses |
| present participle | licensing |
| past participle | licensed |
| past | licensed |
Origin of license
From Middle English licence, licens, lisence, lissens, licance, from Old French licence, from Latin licentia (“license”), from licens, present participle of licere (“to be allowed, be allowable”); compare linquere, Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “leave”).
From Middle English licencen, licensen, lisensen, licent, from Old French licencer, licencier, licenciier, licenser, from Medieval Latin licentiō (cf. English licentiate).
Words formed from license
- artistic license
- bare license
- beginner's license
- BSD license
- clickwrap license
- colicense
- crayon license
- dramatic license
- driver's license
- driving license
- end user license agreement
- high license
- learner's license
- license fee
- license-free
- license laundering
- licenseless
- licenselike
- license plate
- license to print money
- licensure
- licentious
- licentiously
- licentiousness
- marriage license
- MIT license
- multilicense
- multi-license
- naked license
- off-license
- perpetual license
- poetic license
- provisional license
- public license
- shrink-wrap license
- shrinkwrap license
- sub-license
- vanity license plate
- licensee
- licensor
- sublicense
- crosslicense
- delicense
- licensable
- licenser
- relicense
- unlicense
Phrases with license
Words that rhyme with license
Questions about license
- What does license mean?
- License means a legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
- What is license in Hindi?
- License in Hindi is लाइसेंस (lāisens), अनुज्ञा (anujñā), अनुज्ञप्ति (anujñapti). See License meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is license?
- License can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce license?
- License is pronounced /ˈlaɪ.səns/.
- What is the plural of license?
- The plural of license is licenses.
Words near license in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: license (page history and authors); license (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); license (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); license (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); license (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-license.ogg.
Cite this entry: “license.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/license. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.