approve

English Online Dictionary. What means approve‎? What does approve mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) enPR: ə-pro͞ovʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈpɹuːv/
• Rhymes: -uːv
• Hyphenation: ap‧prove

Etymology 1

From Middle English aproven, appreoven, appreven, apreven, borrowed from Old French aprover, approver, approuvir, appreuver (“to approve”), from Latin approbō, from ad + probō (“to esteem as good, approve, prove”). Doublet of approbate. By surface analysis, ad- +‎ prove.

Verb

approve (third-person singular simple present approves, present participle approving, simple past and past participle approved)

1. (transitive) To officially sanction; to ratify; to confirm; to set as satisfactory.

2. (transitive) To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of.

3. (transitive, archaic) To make proof of; to demonstrate; to prove or show practically.
   • 1812–1818, Lord Byron, Child Harolde's Piligrimage

     'T is an old lesson; Time approves it true.
4. (intransitive, followed by "of") To consider worthy (to); to be pleased (with); to accept.
5. (archaic, transitive, usually with a reflexive pronoun) To show to be worthy; to demonstrate the merits of.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English approuen, approven, from Old French aprouer; a- + a form apparently derived from the pro, prod, in Latin prōsum (“be useful or profitable”). Compare with improve.

Verb

approve (third-person singular simple present approves, present participle approving, simple past and past participle approved)

1. (transitive, law, English law) To make profit of; to convert to one's own profit — said especially of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor.

References

• “approve”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Portuguese

Verb

approve

1. inflection of approvar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative