license Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a legal document giving official permission to do something
    licence; permit.
  2. noun freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)
    licence.
  3. noun excessive freedom; lack of due restraint
    licence.
    • when liberty becomes license dictatorship is near"- Will Durant
    • the intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum"- Edmund Burke
  4. noun the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization
    permit; permission.
  5. verb authorize officially
    certify; licence.
    • I am licensed to practice law in this state

WordNet

Li"cense noun
Etymology
F. licence, L. licentia, fr. licere to be permitted, prob. orig., to be left free to one; akin to linquere to leave. See Loan, and cf. Illicit, Leisure.
Definitions
  1. Authority or liberty given to do or forbear any act; especially, a formal permission from the proper authorities to perform certain acts or to carry on a certain business, which without such permission would be illegal; a grant of permission; as, a license to preach, to practice medicine, to sell gunpowder or intoxicating liquors.
    To have a license and a leave at London to dwell. P. Plowman.
  2. The document granting such permission. Addison.
  3. Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety.
    License they mean when they cry liberty. Milton.
  4. That deviation from strict fact, form, or rule, in which an artist or writer indulges, assuming that it will be permitted for the sake of the advantage or effect gained; as, poetic license; grammatical license, etc. Syn. -- Leave; liberty; permission.
Li"cense transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Licensed ; present participle & verbal noun Licensing
Definitions
  1. To permit or authorize by license; to give license to; as, to license a man to preach. Milton. Shak.

Webster 1913