authorized

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of authorize.

   The committee authorized additional funding for the research project.

   Access to the server room is granted only to personnel who have been authorized in advance.

   Note

   Here the verb is at work, and because authorize is transitive it moves easily into the passive. You can write the committee authorized the funding, or staff were authorized to enter. A single spelling serves as both past tense and participle, taking have for the perfect and be for the passive. The -ize ending is the American form and is also the Oxford spelling used in British English.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having official permission or approval; explicitly allowed.

   Only authorized personnel may handle the classified documents.

   The shop is an authorized retailer for several major brands.

   Similarapproved, official, licensed, accredited, certified

   Oppositeunauthorized, unofficial, unlicensed

   Note

   An adjective that does not grade: access is either authorized or it is not, so more authorized and very authorized sound wrong. It usually sits before the noun whose permission it confirms, as in authorized access, authorized hunting or an authorized decision. It is the settled status left behind by the past participle, which names the act of granting permission rather than the result.

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