English

Alternative forms

• authorisation

Noun

authorization ‎(countable and uncountable, plural authorizations)

1. (uncountable) Permission.

   I've got authorization. Call the office and you'll see.

2. (countable) An act of authorizing.
   • 1966, Education at Berkeley, page 116:

     Our proposal thus envisages a new procedure for the authorization of experimental program

   • 1985 May, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 41, page 46:

     His authorization of decapitation targeting is incompatible with his theory of limited war

   • 1990, Horst Ungerer, The European monetary system: developments and perspectives, page 36:

     Its purpose is to govern the authorization of credit institutions and the provision of financial services throughout the EC.

3. (countable) (A document giving) formal sanction, permission or warrant.

   Can I see your authorization?

4. (government) Permission, possibly limited, to spend funds for a specific budgetary purpose.

   We've had the authorization for years, but we've never gotten an appropriation.

Holonyms

• (permission): access control
• (an act of authorizing): access control
• (government): budgeting

Related terms

• author
• authority
• unauthorized

Translations

References

• authorization at OneLook Dictionary Search
• authorization in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913