approving

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of approve.

   The committee is approving the final designs this week.

   Approving loans quickly became the bank's main selling point.

   Note

   The -ing form of a verb with two everyday faces. A committee approving designs is sanctioning them officially, while a person approving a choice simply thinks well of it. Unlike the adjective, it takes a direct object and cannot be graded, so no one is "very approving the loans." Older uses meant proving or demonstrating, and English manorial usage had a lord approving common land, turning it to his own profit.

2. 2
   adjective

   Expressing approval; showing that one thinks well of something or commends it.

   The critic's approving review boosted ticket sales overnight.

   Her boss seemed approving of the new strategy during the meeting.

   Similarsympathetic, approbatory, approbative

   Oppositedisapproving, critical, unfavorable, negative

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into a true adjective, and the test is gradability: a look can be more approving or most approving, and it can follow seem, as in she seemed approving. The verb form can do neither. It typically describes the outward sign of approval, such as an approving smile, and its more learned synonyms are approbative and approbatory.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2