Approving

How to spell approving

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce approving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does approving mean?

1. adjectiveShowing or expressing agreement, praise, or a favourable opinion.
2. verbIn the act of officially agreeing to or sanctioning something.

Approving in a sentence

• adjective

  Her mother gave an approving nod when she saw the finished essay.

• verb

  The board is approving the budget for next year.

• adjective

  The manager wore an approving smile as the team presented the results.

• verb

  The bank spent two weeks approving our mortgage application.

Where does approving come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows from the Latin verb approbare, meaning 'to assent to' or 'to regard as good', which was formed from ad 'to' and probare 'to test, examine, or prove worthy'. The Latin probare itself came from probus, meaning 'good, upright, or honest', so the underlying idea was judging something to be sound. English took the word in through Old French aprover during the 1300s, where it carried the sense of confirming or sanctioning something. The base verb 'approve' settled into English meaning to express a favourable opinion, and 'approving' is its present participle, used both as a verb form and as an adjective describing a look or attitude that signals approval. The same probare root sits inside the everyday words 'prove', 'probe', and 'probation', and remembering that link helps explain the single 'p' in the second syllable rather than a doubled one.

How the word is built

• ap- (to, from Latin ad-)
• prov (from probare: to test, prove worthy)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)