sanction
/ˈseɪ̯ŋkʃən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.43 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A penalty, punishment, or some coercive measure, intended to ensure compliance; especially one adopted by several nations, or by an international body.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The whalers had been operating in the contested waters off the island with sanction from the Japanese government."
- "The idea that it was more comfortable in the house than out of it, did much towards reconciling his lordship. He felt positively glad that, as his wife had acted without his sanction, she should be subject to all possible inconvenience, as if such could be felt in Henrietta's state of mind."
- "The United States enacted a new round of sanctions against the apartheid regime of South Africa."
- "The school's inaction further sanctions this misbehavior."
- "Many of the most earnest Protestants were business men, to whom lending money at interest was essential. Consequently first Calvin, and then other Protestant divines, sanctioned interest."
- "The generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, can be duped into providing detailed advice on how to commit crimes — ranging from money laundering to the export of weapons to sanctioned countries — a tech startup found."
Etymology
From Middle French sanction, from Latin sānctiō.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: sanction, sānctiō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈseɪ̯ŋkʃən/