authorize
Formsauthorizes, authorizing, authorized
UK spellingauthorise
- 1To grant someone the permission or power needed to do something; to formally permit or approve it.
Only a senior officer may authorize the release of classified documents.
The board authorized a new round of funding last quarter.
Note
Behind the word stands Latin auctor, which reached English through Old French auctorisier and Middle English auctorisen. The h came later, following the spelling of author, and octroy is the same word by another road. It takes two constructions: authorize a person to act (the Council to take up the matter) or authorize the act itself (the wiretapping). The -ize spelling serves American and Oxford-style British English alike.
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Origin
It comes from Middle English auctorisen, from Old French auctorisier, from Medieval Latin auctorizare, ultimately from Latin auctor (author). It is a doublet of octroy.