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Definition of sanction verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

sanction

verb
 
/ˈsæŋkʃn/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃn/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they sanction
 
/ˈsæŋkʃn/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃn/
he / she / it sanctions
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnz/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnz/
past simple sanctioned
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnd/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnd/
past participle sanctioned
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnd/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃnd/
-ing form sanctioning
 
/ˈsæŋkʃənɪŋ/
 
/ˈsæŋkʃənɪŋ/
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  1. sanction something (formal) to give permission for something to take place
    • The government refused to sanction a further cut in interest rates.
    Extra Examples
    • He had tacitly sanctioned repression against the opposition parties.
    • Shareholders are unlikely to sanction the scheme.
    • The military refused to sanction a transfer of power to a civilian government.
    • The transaction has to be sanctioned by the court.
    • Slavery was once socially sanctioned.
    Topics Law and justicec2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • officially
    • legally
    • socially
    verb + sanction
    • refuse to
    See full entry
  2. sanction somebody/something (specialist) to punish somebody/something; to impose a sanction on somethingTopics Crime and punishmentc1
  3. Word Originlate Middle English (as a noun denoting an ecclesiastical decree): from French, from Latin sanctio(n-), from sancire ‘ratify’. The verb dates from the late 18th cent.
See sanction in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee sanction in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
hat-trick
noun
 
 
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