approve

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈpɹuːv/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English approven, apreven, borrowed from Old French aprover (“to approve, agree to”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin approbāre (“to assent to as good”),^[2][3] from ad-, to, and probāre, to test (see prove), from probus, honest, good.^[2][5] The Middle English form apreven came from a stressed stem of the Old French verb and later died out.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To demonstrate, prove: about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline; 1340 in the OED; now obsolete.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

NODE traces the development from prove, demonstrate, to corroborate, confirm, and hence to pronounce satisfactory.^[7] To confirm or commend is from about 1380, in Chaucer's Boethius,^[3][6] and by the late 14th century it also meant to sanction or endorse formally, especially of authorities and parliaments.^[2] Approval is from 1690, rare before the 19th century.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to prove.^[3]
• c. 1380 – to confirm, commend.^[3]
• late 14th century – to sanction.^[2]
• 1690 – approval.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To think or speak well of; to consider good or right.
2. To agree to formally; to authorize or sanction.
3. (obsolete) To prove or demonstrate.

Word family

• approvable
• approvingly
• approvedly
• approvedness
• disapprove
• preapprove
• reapprove
• approval

Related words

• approbation
• prove
• probe
• reprove

Usage notes

MWU records a separate approve from Middle French aprouer, to cause to profit.^[4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press