license

English

Alternative forms

• (Commonwealth) licence (noun)

Etymology

From Old French licence, from Latin licentia (“license”), from licens, present participle of licere (“to be allowed, be allowable”); compare linquere, Ancient Greek λείπω (“leave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlaɪsəns/, X-SAMPA: /"laIs@ns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: li‧cense

Noun

Wikipedia license (plural licenses)

1. A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
2. The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.

   Even if you bought this product, it does NOT belong to you. You have a license to use it under the terms of this agreement, until you breach this agreement.

3. Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech).
4. Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
   • 1936, Will Durant and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, page 520:

     When liberty becomes license dictatorship is near.

5. An academic degree, the holder of which is called a licentiate, ranking slightly below doctorate, awarded by certain European and Latin-American universities.

Usage notes

• In Commonwealth English, the noun is spelt licence and the verb is license.
• The spelling licence is not used for either part of speech in the United States.

Translations

legal document giving official permission to do something

• Azeri: lisenziya (az)
• Dutch: vergunning (nl) f
• Esperanto: permesilo (eo)
• Finnish: lupakirja (fi), -kortti (fi), valtakirja (fi) (general); ajokortti (fi) (driver's license)
• German: Lizenz (de) f, Erlaubnis (de) f, Genehmigung (de) f, Schein (de) m
• Greek: άδεια (el) (ádeia) f

• Hungarian: engedély (hu)
• Irish: ceadúnas (ga) m
• Malay: lesen (ms)
• Portuguese: licença (pt) f
• Russian: лицензия (ru) (licénzija) f
• Spanish: licencia (es) f, permiso (es) m
• Swedish: licens (sv) c, tillstånd (sv) n (permission), tillståndshandling (sv) c (document)
• Turkish: lisans (tr)

legal terms of product usage

• Arabic: رخصة (ar) (rúkhSa) f
• Azeri: lisenziya (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 執照 (cmn), 执照 (cmn) (zhízhào)

• Czech: licence (cs) f
• Dutch: licentie (nl) f, vergunning (nl) f
• Esperanto: permesilo (eo)
• Finnish: lisenssi (fi)
• French: licence (fr) f
• German: Lizenz (de) f

• Greek: άδεια (el) (ádeia) f
• Hungarian: engedély (hu)
• Italian: licenza (it) f
• Japanese: 免許 (ja) (めんきょ, menkyo)
• Korean: 면허 (ko) (myeonheo) (免許 (ko))
• Portuguese: licença (pt) f
• Russian: лицензия (ru) (licénzija) f
• Spanish: licencia (es) f
• Swedish: licens (sv)
• Turkish: lisans (tr)

freedom to deviate from normally applicable rules or practices

• Dutch: vergunning (nl) f

• Finnish: poikkeuslupa (fi)

excessive freedom

• Dutch: bandeloosheid (nl) f

• Finnish: avoin valtakirja (fi)

academic degree

• Dutch: licentiaat (nl) n
• Finnish: lisensiaatin tutkinto (fi)
• French: licence (fr) f
• German: Staatsexamen (de) n

• Khmer: បរិញ្ញាបត្រ (km) (pak ri nha bat)
• Portuguese: licenciatura (pt) f
• Spanish: licenciatura (es) f
• Swedish: licentiat (sv) n (person with the degree), licentiatexamen (sv) c (the degree)
• Turkish: lisans (tr)

Verb

license (third-person singular simple present licenses, present participle licensing, simple past and past participle licensed)

1. The act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization.

   It was decided to license Wikipedia under the GFDL.

2. Authorize officially.

   I am licensed to practice law in this state.

Derived terms

• licensable
• licensee
• license plate
• licenser
• licensor

Translations

act of giving a formal authorization

• Dutch: licentiëren (nl), vergunning (nl) toekennen (nl)
• Finnish: lisensioida (fi), valtuuttaa (fi)

• German: lizenzieren (de)
• Swedish: licensiera (sv), ge tillstånd (sv) (use: ge ngn. tillstånd att göra ngt.))
• Welsh: trwyddedu (cy)

authorize officially

• Dutch: toelaten (nl), licentiëren (nl), vergunning (nl) toekennen (nl)
• Finnish: valtuuttaa (fi)

• German: lizenzieren (de)
• Greek: αδειοδοτώ (el) (adeiodotó), δίνω άδεια (el) (díno ádeia)
• Swedish: licensiera (sv), ge tillstånd (sv) (use: ge ngn. tillstånd att göra ngt.))

External links

• license in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• license in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• selenic, silence