English
approve
Pronunciation
  • (America, RP) IPA: /əˈpɹuːv/
Verb

approve (approves, present participle approving; past and past participle approved)

  1. (transitive) To sanction officially; to ratify; to confirm.
    Although we may disagree with it, we must nevertheless approve the sentence handed down by the court-martial.
  2. (transitive) To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of.
    We approve the measure of the administration, for it is an excellent decision.
  3. (transitive, archaic) To make proof of; to demonstrate; to prove or show practically.
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession Of James II
      He had approved himself a great warrior.
    • 1844, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: Second Series
      Opportunities to approve […] worth.
    • 1812-1818, Lord Byron, Child Harolde's Piligrimage
      'T is an old lesson; Time approves it true.
    • 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, III:
      He had long burned with impatience to approve his valour.
  4. (intransitive, followed by "of") To consider worthy (to); to be pleased (with); to accept.
    Her mother never approves of any of her boyfriends. She thinks nobody is good enough for her little girl.
    • 2016, Mitski, Your Best American Girl
      Your mother wouldn't approve of how my mother raised me. But I do, I think I do. And you're an all-American boy
    • 1995, The Verve, A Northern Soul
      Dad didn't approve of me, do you? I'm alive with something inside of me.
    • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession Of James II
      They had not approved of the deposition of James.
    • 1758, Jonathan Swift, The History of the Four Last Years of the Queen
      Their address was in the most dutiful manner, approving of what her majesty had done toward a peace, and dissolve her parliament
  5. (archaic, transitive) To show to be worthy; to demonstrate the merits of.
    • The first care and concern must be to approve himself to God.
Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: aprovar
  • Russian: одобря́ть
  • Spanish: ver con buenos ojos
Translations Verb

approve (approves, present participle approving; past and past participle approved)

  1. (transitive, legal, English law) To make profit of; to convert to one's own profit — said especially of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor.


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