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''approbation'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904152658-00-⌔

approbation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

approbation (countable and uncountable, plural approbations)

  • The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval, sanction, commendation or official recognition.
    • ✤ Synonyms: approval, concurrence, consent, liking, sanction; see also Thesaurus: approval, Thesaurus: praise
    • ✤ Antonyms: disapprobation; see also Thesaurus: disapproval, Thesaurus: condemnation
    • ✤ I am very sensible how much nobler it is to place the reward of virtue in the silent approbation of one’s own breast1
    • ✤ As a counsellor she was not wanted; but as an approver, (a much safer character,) she was truly welcome. Her approbation, at once general and minute, warm and incessant, could not but please; and for another half-hour they were all walking to and fro, between the different rooms, some suggesting, some attending, and all in happy enjoyment of the future.2
    • ✤ [I]t was with the view to judge how far my own desires would act in harmony with the wishes of my family. Such an alliance cannot fail of meeting with their most flattering approbation.3
    • ✤ Many, therefore, who did not assent to all that the King had said, joined in a loud hum of approbation when he concluded.4
    • ✤ [A]nimals not only love, but have the desire to be loved. […] They love approbation or praise; […]5

Etymology

From late Middle English approbacioun, from Old French approbacion (French approbation), from Latin approbatio, from approbare (“to assent to as good, approve, also show to be good, confirm”), from ad (“to”) + probare (“approve, commend”), from probus (“good”). By surface analysis, approbate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˌæp.ɹəʊˈbeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌæp.ɹəˈbeɪ.ʃən/
  • (US) IPA: /ˌæp.ɹoʊˈbeɪ.ʃən/, /ˌæp.ɹəˈbeɪ.ʃən/
  • Audio (General American): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

  1. 1796, William Melmoth (tr.), The Letters of Pliny the Consul: With Occasional Remarks, 9th edition, page 20: ↩

  2. 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC: ↩

  3. 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XX, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 286: ↩

  4. 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC: ↩

  5. 1871, Charles Darwin, “Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Part I (On the Descent of Man), page 42: ↩

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