license.
A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
Meaning & usage
A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.
Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behaviour or speech).
Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
Ellipsis of driver's license.
In order to enter the building, I need to show my license.
Where this word comes from
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”).
To authorize officially.
I am licensed to practice law in this state.
(applied to a piece of intellectual property) To give formal authorization to use.
It was decided to license Wikipedia under the GFDL.
(applied to a piece of intellectual property) To acquire authorization to use, usually in exchange for compensation.
The filmmakers licensed several iconic 80's songs for the soundtrack.
To give permission or freedom to; accept.
To permit (as grammatically correct).
No English adverbs have mandatory complements, and most don't even license optional ones.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English licencen, licensen, lisensen, licent, from Old French licencer, licencier, licenciier, licenser, from Medieval Latin licentiō (cf. English licentiate).
Try it on your idea.
license has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
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.