approve
pronunciation
How to pronounce approve in British English:
UK [əˈpruːv]
How to pronounce approve in American English:
US [əˈpruːv]
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- Verb:
- give sanction to
- judge to be right or commendable; think well of
Word Origin
- approve
- approve: [14] The Latin source of approve, approbāre, was a derivative of probāre, source of English prove. Probāre originally meant ‘test something to find if it is good’ (it was based on Latin probus ‘good’) and this became extended to ‘show something to be good or valid’. It was this sense that was taken up by approbāre and carried further to ‘assent to as good’. When English acquired the word, via Old French aprover, it still carried the notion of ‘demonstrating’, but this was gradually taken over exclusively by prove, and the senses ‘sanction’ and ‘commend’, present since the beginning, established their primacy.=> probity, prove
- approve (v.)
- c. 1300, "to demonstrate, prove;" mid-14c., "to attest (something) with authority," from Old French aprover (Modern French approuver) "approve, agree to," from Latin approbare "to assent to as good, regard as good," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + probare "to try, test something (to find if it is good)," from probus "honest, genuine" (see prove). The meaning extended late 14c. to "to sanction, endorse, confirm formally" then to "assent to (something) as good" (early 15c.), especially in reference to the actions of authorities, parliaments, etc. Related: Approved; approving.
Antonym
Example
- 1. But there are compelling reasons to approve this acquisition .
- 2. Approve or disapprove , that was not gridlock .
- 3. For these approve of that which should be punishable by death .
- 4. The world has tended to approve of their plans .
- 5. Yet the stock market appeared to approve of cisco 's high-profile exit from consumer products .