license
verb/ˈlaɪsns/
/ˈlaɪsns/
(also British English, less frequent licence)
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they license | /ˈlaɪsns/ /ˈlaɪsns/ |
| he / she / it licenses | /ˈlaɪsnsɪz/ /ˈlaɪsnsɪz/ |
| past simple licensed | /ˈlaɪsnst/ /ˈlaɪsnst/ |
| past participle licensed | /ˈlaɪsnst/ /ˈlaɪsnst/ |
| -ing form licensing | /ˈlaɪsnsɪŋ/ /ˈlaɪsnsɪŋ/ |
- to give somebody official permission to do, own, or use something
- license something The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US.
- (British English) licensing hours (= the times when alcohol can be sold at a pub, etc.)
- license somebody/something to do something They had licensed the firm to produce the drug.
Extra Examples- The company plans to license the technology to others.
- The drug is not licensed for long-term use.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryLicense is used with these nouns as the object:- invention
Word Originlate Middle English: from licence. The spelling -se arose by analogy with pairs such as practice, practise.Want to learn more?
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license