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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

permit.

To allow (something) to happen, to give permission for.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/pɚˈmɪt/General-American/pəˈmɪt/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To allow (something) to happen, to give permission for.

    transitive
  2. To allow (someone) to do something; to give permission to.

    transitive
  3. To allow for, to make something possible.

    intransitive
  4. To allow, to admit (of).

    intransitive
  5. To grant formal authorization for (something).

    transitive
    The Building Department permitted that project last week.
  6. To attempt to obtain or succeed in obtaining formal authorization for (something).

    transitive
    We've been busy permitting the State Street development.
  7. To hand over, resign (something to someone).

    archaic · rare
Where this word comes from

From Middle English permitten, borrowed from Middle French permettre, from Latin permittō (“give up, allow”), from per (“through”) + mittō (“send”).

noun/pɚˈmɪt/General-American/pəˈmɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɝmɪt/General-American/ˈpɜːmɪt/Received-Pronunciation
  1. An artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal.

    A construction permit can be obtained from the town offices.
    Go over to the park office and get a permit for the #3 shelter.
  2. An artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal. A learner's permit.

  3. Formal permission.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English permitten, borrowed from Middle French permettre, from Latin permittō (“give up, allow”), from per (“through”) + mittō (“send”).

noun/ˈpɝmɪt/General-American/ˈpɜːmɪt/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A pompano of the species Trachinotus falcatus.

Where this word comes from

An irregular borrowing from Spanish palometa, probably from a Doric variant of Ancient Greek πηλαμύς (pēlamús, “young tuna”).

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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.