imprimatur

See also: imprimátur

English

WOTD – 19 November 2008

Etymology

From Latin imprimātur (“let it be printed”), third person singular present subjunctive passive form of imprimere (“to imprint”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tə/, /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tə/, /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tʊə/, /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tʊə/, /ɪmˈpɹɪmətə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑ.tɚ/, /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tɚ/, /ɪmpɹɪˈmɑtʊɹ/, /ɪmˈpɹɪmətɚ/, /ɪmˈpɹɪmətʊɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  ,

  Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

imprimatur (plural imprimaturs or imprimantur)

1. (printing) An official license to publish or print something, especially when censorship applies.
   • 1664, John Wilson, The Cheats, publication info page:

     The Cheats · A Comedy · Written in the Year, M.DC.LXII. Imprimatur, Roger L'estrange. Nov. 5. 1663. By John Wilson

   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 8:

     Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are ſeen together dialogue-wiſe in the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking each other with their ſhav'n reverences, whether the Author, who ſtands by in perplexity at the foot of his Epiſtle, ſhall to the Preſſe or to the ſpunge.

2. (by extension) Any mark of official approval.

   Synonyms: approval, authorization, endorsement

   • 1988, New York Times, Gay fiction comes home‎^[1]:

     Children, the final imprimatur to family life, are being borrowed, adopted, created by artificial insemination.

   • 2015 March 30, Michael Billington, “Look Back in Anger: how John Osborne liberated theatrical language”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Even with the imprimatur of Tynan and Hobson, the play was not an instant hit.

   • 2024 May 18, Jane Shaw, “When belief is a business”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 8:

     The author suggests that Grace is hoping to meet at church a respectable marriage candidate who will have the imprimatur of her pastor and the church community.

Translations

official license to publish

• Finnish: julkaisulupa (fi), imprimatur (fi)
• French: imprimatur (fr) m
• Hungarian: imprimatúra (hu)
• Norwegian: imprimatur (no) n
• Russian: са́нкция (ru) f (sánkcija), одобре́ние (ru) n (odobrénije), разреше́ние (ru) n (razrešénije)
• Spanish: imprimátur (es) m
• Swedish: godkännande (sv), sanktion (sv)

any mark of official approval

• Russian: са́нкция (ru) f (sánkcija), разреше́ние (ru) n (razrešénije), добро́ (ru) n (dobró) (colloquial)
• Swedish: sanktion (sv)

Czech

Noun

imprimatur n

1. imprimatur

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin imprimātur (“let it be printed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pʁi.ma.tyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

imprimatur m (plural imprimaturs)

1. imprimatur

   Donner son imprimatur.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Further reading

• “imprimatur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin imprimātur (“let it be printed”), third person singular present subjunctive passive form of imprimere (“to imprint”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imprimatur/
• Hyphenation: im‧pri‧ma‧tur

Noun

imprimatur

1. (Catholicism) imprimatur, an official license to publish or print something.

See also

• pengesahan
• tashih

Further reading

• “imprimatur” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /im.priˈmaː.tur/, [ɪmprɪˈmäːt̪ʊr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /im.priˈma.tur/, [impriˈmäːt̪ur]

Verb

imprimātur

1. third-person singular present passive subjunctive of imprimō