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n. 1. The act of permitting, especially in giving formal consent; authorization: Do they have permission to leave? 2. An authorization to do something, as to quote from a book under copyright. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin permissiō, permissiōn-, from permissus, past participle of permittere, to permit; see PERMIT1.] Synonyms: permission, authorization, consent, leave2, license, sanction These nouns denote approval for a course of action that an authority has granted: was refused permission to smoke; seeking authorization to begin construction; gave their consent to the marriage; will ask leave to respond to the speaker; was given license to depart; gave sanction to the project. Antonym: prohibition |
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