authorize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to give authority or official power to; empower.
to authorize an employee to sign purchase orders.
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to give authority for; formally sanction (an act or proceeding).
Congress authorized the new tax on tobacco.
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to establish by authority or usage.
an arrangement long authorized by etiquette books.
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to afford a ground for; warrant; justify.
verb
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to confer authority upon (someone to do something); empower
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to permit (someone to do or be something) with official sanction
a dealer authorized by a manufacturer to retail his products
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reauthorizeverb (used with object)
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preauthorizeverb (used with object)
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deauthorizeverb (used with object)
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self-authorizingadjective
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misauthorizeverb (used with object)
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authorizableadjective
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authorizernoun
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authorizationnoun
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have authorizedperfect
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has authorizedperfect 3rd person singular
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am authorizingprogressive 1st person singular
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are authorizingprogressive
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is authorizingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been authorizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been authorizingperfect progressive
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authorizingparticiple
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authorizessingular 3rd person
Past
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had authorizedperfect
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had been authorizingperfect progressive
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were authorizingprogressive plural
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was authorizingprogressive singular
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authorizedparticiple
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authorizedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of authorize
1350–1400; earlier auctorize < Medieval Latin auctōrizāre; replacing Middle English autorisen < Middle French autoriser < Medieval Latin See author, -ize
Explanation
To authorize is to give official approval or clearance for something. Authorizing can also delegate power to someone. Authorities are people with power, and to authorize is to use or grant some of that power to another. A visa authorizes you to visit a specific country. A search warrant authorizes the police to search a house. A doctor's note authorizes someone to miss work or school. Also, authorizing can be a form of delegating powers or responsibilities. The president of a company could authorize a worker to make a particular decision. Authorizing officially allows something to happen.
Vocabulary lists containing authorize
Quartering Act (1765)
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 1–January 7, 2022
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Maryland Toleration Act (1649)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Local 11’s SoFi Stadium workers overwhelmingly voted late last week to authorize a strike, which means a work stoppage could have started anytime.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
He has repeatedly called for dialogue with protesters but on Wednesday announced a bill to declare a state of emergency, which would authorize military deployment to crack down and clear the blockades.
From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026
Approximately 2,000 hospitality workers at SoFi Stadium will begin voting Thursday over whether to authorize a strike just a week before the World Cup is scheduled to kick off at the Inglewood venue.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
The hospital would not authorize a transfer or arrange to send her in an ambulance, and it offered no explanation for why.
From Salon • May 27, 2026
What Priddy needed was a blanket legal order that would authorize him to sterilize a woman on explicitly eugenic grounds; one such test case would set the standard for a thousand.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
