Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Official approval or license to print or publish, especially as granted by a censor or an ecclesiastical authority.
- noun Official approval; sanction.
- noun A mark of official approval.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Let it be printed: a formula signed by an official licenser of the press and attached to the matter so authorized to be printed.
- noun n. A license to print, granted by the licenser of the press; hence, a license in general.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Law) A license to print or publish a book, paper, etc.; also, in countries subjected to the censorship of the press, approval of that which is published.
- noun (R. C. Ch.) Permission granted from a designated ecclesiastical authority to publish a book or other document; -- required by church law for Catholics, especially ecclesiastics, who wish to publish.
- noun Official approval for some proposed activity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An official
license topublish orprint something, especially whencensorship applies. - noun by extension Any mark of
official approval .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun formal and explicit approval
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The thing is, to a lot of people it's still seen as a nerd activity; while some geeky/nerdy things are now cool, others haven't been given the imprimatur from the "cool folks" yet.
My opinion on the whole Blizzard Real ID issue nathreee 2010
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An imprimatur is not guarantee of theological soundness, in reality.
Dr. Janet Smith replies to Dr. Schindler, defends Christopher West 2009
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However, Rome's imprimatur is required before sainthood can be declared.
Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 2003
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However, Rome's imprimatur is required before sainthood can be declared.
Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 2003
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The conclusion is obvious; the imprimatur was a momentary insincerity for which there must have been specific, exterior reasons.
Great Tew, Continued Trevor-Roper, Hugh 1988
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The hymns to which he gave his imprimatur are a most important part of the public worship of his followers.
Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 4 Thomas Babington Macaulay Macaulay 1829
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So there's obviously something in the demand for expertise, the imprimatur, which is not really about the fact that they do a good job.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Dennis Whittle 2010
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What may be happening here is that the two rather learned terms imprimatur and imprint (both obviously close etymological relatives) blend in some speakers 'vocabulary, and the imprimatur > impremature substitution extends out to
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Paula Lieberman @ 96: No, I meant that some people feel that self-publishing has a stigma, and that their work needs some kind of imprimatur before it merits publication.
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That is precisely what unions do, and their endorsements are far from merely an "imprimatur," as Ana suggests.
nahiku888 commented on the word imprimatur
Every time I see this word, an image of one of those nuns I endured in high school pops up in my mind - NOT a pleasant image believe me!
June 21, 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word imprimatur
Mr. Zuckerberg felt that gaining the imprimatur of a major investor at such lofty levels would validate Facebook
January 6, 2011
Louises commented on the word imprimatur
'The wish to live on in one's descendants is not unusual, even if the words in which it is expressed have lacked imprimatur.' The Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson 2010.
April 20, 2013