Authorized

How to spell authorized

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce authorized

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does authorized mean?

1. verbGranted official permission or formal approval to do something.

Authorized in a sentence

• Only authorized personnel may enter the server room.

• The manager authorized the refund after reviewing the receipt.

Where does authorized come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past form of the verb 'authorize', which English took from the Old French 'autoriser' in the late 1300s, itself drawn from the Medieval Latin 'auctorizare', meaning 'to confer authority on' or 'to sanction'. The root is the Latin 'auctor', an originator, founder, or one who vouches for something, which also gave us 'author' and 'authority'. The 'auctor' in turn comes from 'augere', meaning 'to increase' or 'to promote', the same root behind 'augment' and 'auction'. Over time the legal and official sense of granting formal permission settled firmly into English, so today 'authorized' means officially permitted or sanctioned. The silent link to 'author' is the useful memory hook: an authorized act is one an authority has, in effect, put their name to.

How the word is built

• author (originator, one who gives sanction)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)

British and American spelling

Authorized is the American spelling. British English spells it authorised.