Word.ws English Dictionary

licensing

licensing is the present participle and gerund of license.

Meaning of license

Verb

license (third-person singular simple present licenses, present participle licensing, simple past and past participle licensed)

  1. (US) To authorize officially.
    • I am licensed to practice law in this state.
  2. (US, transitive) To give formal authorization to use.
    • It was decided to license Wikipedia under the GFDL.
  3. (US, transitive) To acquire authorization to use, usually in exchange for compensation.
    • The filmmakers licensed several iconic 80's songs for the soundtrack.
  4. (US, transitive) 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
  5. (US, transitive) To permit (as grammatically correct).
    • No English adverbs have mandatory complements, and most don't even license optional ones.

See all 9 meanings of license

Noun

licensing (countable and uncountable, plural licensings)

  1. A giving of license to do something; sanction.
    • To fence Truth about with prohibition and licensings, the weak inventions of fear and policy, is to doubt her strength, and vainly to imagine that she needs our protection in the battle that she is for ever waging with falsehood and with error.1874, T. Turner, Lessons in English Literature, volume 1, page 155
    • As a result of these irregular ordinations and licensings, a rupture occurred between prorevival ministers in southern Kentucky and more conservative members of the Synod of Kentucky.2005, Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, page 311
    Synonyms:
    licensure

Synonyms of licensing

Forms of licensing

plurallicensings

Words formed from licensing

Phrases with licensing

Questions about licensing

What does licensing mean?
Licensing means a giving of license to do something; sanction.
What is licensing the present participle and gerund of?
Licensing is the present participle and gerund of license.
What part of speech is licensing?
Licensing is a noun.
What is the plural of licensing?
The plural of licensing is licensings.

Words near licensing in the dictionary

  1. licenselike
  2. licenser
  3. licensers
  4. licenses
  5. licenses to print money
  6. licensing
  7. licensing context
  8. licensing contexts
  9. licensing fee
  10. licensing fees
  11. licensings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: licensing (page history and authors); license (page history and authors). 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.

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