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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

approval.

An expression granting permission; an indication of agreement with a proposal; an acknowledgement that a person, thing, or event meets requirements.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈpɹuːvəl/UK/əˈpɹuvəl/US
  1. An expression granting permission; an indication of agreement with a proposal; an acknowledgement that a person, thing, or event meets requirements.

    countable · uncountable
    I need to get an approval on this purchase order.
  2. An expression of favorable acceptance and encouragement; a compliment that also condones.

    countable · uncountable
    Words of approval never seem to come from him.
  3. Something mailed by a seller to a collector to match their stated interests; the collector can approve of or return the item.

    countable · especially · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *probʰHwós Proto-Italic *proβwos Proto-Italic *proβos Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Proto-Italic *proβāō Latin probō Latin approbāreder. Old French aproverbor. Middle English aproven English approve Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English approval From approve + -al.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.