Meaning of approval in English

approval

noun [ U ]

/əˈpruː.vəl/ us

/əˈpruː.vəl/

approval noun [U] (GOOD OPINION)

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the feeling of having a positive opinion of someone or something:

He showed his approval by smiling broadly.

Alan is someone who always needs the approval of other people.

Sam always tried hard to win his father's approval.

formal Does the wine meet with your approval? (= Do you like the wine?)

on approval

If you buy something on approval, you can return it without payment if it is not satisfactory:

The new manager introduced the practice of shipping items on approval.

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The new reforms have not met with considerable public approval.
Unfortunately the arrangements did not meet with Lady Margaret's approval.
When he came back on stage, the delighted audience were quick to show their approval.
She is an anxious little child who is always looking for approval from those around her.
It's an impressive design, but it probably won't receive much popular approval.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Approving & approval

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approval noun [U] (PERMISSION)

official permission:

The project has now received approval from the government.

The teacher gave the student a nod of approval.

Synonyms

acquiescence formal
agreement (SAME OPINION)
assent  formal
say-so (PERMISSION) informal

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We plan to go on Wednesday, subject to your approval.
The developers submitted building plans to the council for approval.
My plans are ripening - now all I need is official approval.
The government has given the proposal its seal of approval.
I trust the arrangements will meet with the committee's approval.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Allowing and permitting

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(Definition of approval from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

approval | American Dictionary

approval

noun [ U ]

/əˈpru·vəl/

approval noun [U] (AGREEMENT)

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the state or condition of having a good opinion of someone or something:

She craves the approval of her classmates.

approval noun [U] (PERMISSION)

an act of officially accepting or allowing something:

You’ll need your parents’ approval to take this field trip.

(Definition of approval from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

approval | Business English

approval

noun [ U ]

/əˈpruːvəl/ us

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official permission or agreement for something:

get/secure/win approval They want to raise rates, but it will be difficult to secure approval.

gain/receive approval The new strategy has yet to receive approval from the board.

give (your) approval The IMF is unlikely to give its approval.

approval of sth Approval of the loan came after several hours of discussion by the executive board.

approval for sth Recent management upheaval and delayed approval for key products have damaged the company.

approval from sb The Hong Kong-based businessman needed 75% approval from minority shareholders for his proposed scheme.

final/preliminary approval The measure still needs final approval.

on approval

COMMERCE

if you buy something on approval, you can return it without payment if it is not satisfactory:

You can have the goods on approval for 28 days.

(Definition of approval from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of approval

approval

Maintaining the volume of approvals and permissions issued by these bureaucrats was one way of ensuring compliance between different bureaucratic interests for reducing expenditures.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Only those utterances that were judged to be approvals or disapprovals of the child's preceding utterance were coded as explicit responses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

On face value this might act as a disincentive to research because the need to obtain several approvals would interfere with the normal scholarly processes such as peer review.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Increase in empowerment funding rose from three deals in 1990 to a peak of 191 deals in 2002, representing about 37 % of the total number of approvals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When applications for pesticide approvals are evaluated, or existing approvals are reviewed, food consumption patterns are routinely taken into account.

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