sanctions

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sanction.

   The council voted to lift the trade sanctions after months of negotiation.

   Economic sanctions often hurt ordinary citizens more than the leaders they target.

   Note

   In the plural, the penalty meaning usually takes over. Approval can stand without a plural (the plan won official sanction). The coercive meaning is the one that habitually takes the -s: trade sanctions, economic sanctions, sanctions against a state. These are measures often adopted jointly by several nations or by an international body. Councils and governments impose them, and later lift or ease them.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of sanction.

   The committee sanctions only projects that meet its strict environmental guidelines.

   Whenever a member breaks the rules, the league sanctions them with a fine.

   Note

   One spelling carries two opposite verbs. A committee that sanctions a project approves it, but a league that sanctions a player punishes them. The object usually settles which is meant. Plans, deals and treaties are sanctioned in the approving way. States and rule-breakers are sanctioned in the punishing way, a use built on the 'penalties' plural. Either way, the verb is transitive and always needs something to sanction.

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