license 1 of 2

variants or licence

license

2 of 2

verb

variants also licence

Synonym Chooser

How is the word license different from other nouns like it?

The words freedom and liberty are common synonyms of license. While all three words mean "the power or condition of acting without compulsion," license implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom.

freedom without responsibility may degenerate into license

Where would freedom be a reasonable alternative to license?

Although the words freedom and license have much in common, freedom has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated.

freedom of the press

When is it sensible to use liberty instead of license?

The synonyms liberty and license are sometimes interchangeable, but liberty suggests release from former restraint or compulsion.

the released prisoner had difficulty adjusting to his new liberty

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of license
Noun
Although not called a wheel tax, Seattle leverages a $50 Seattle Transportation Benefit District vehicle license fee to improve its transportation infrastructure. Stuart Dyos, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025 Tasty Flavors still needs to obtain their licenses from the city, but the owners are ready to clean out the building and start moving in by the weekend of Oct 3-5. Angelika Ytuarte, jsonline.com, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
Anyway, our model is to license by category, by territory, to best-in-class partners. Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2025 In exchange, Disney licensed 14 popular library TV series to Netflix on a non-exclusive basis for 18 months. Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 29 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for license
Recent Examples of Synonyms for license
Noun
  • The Death card shows up as sacred permission to shed a layer that no longer serves you.
    Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC.
    Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Kishimori was involved with a recent delegation of over 25 Michigan leaders, including Whitmer, who traveled to Japan in early September.
    Carol Cain, Freep.com, 4 Oct. 2025
  • Talks will begin in Egypt in the coming days to finalize the agreement, with both Israeli and Hamas delegations present.
    Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Through Congressional authorization, President Calvin Coolidge was featured on the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Half Dollar alongside George Washington.
    Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Roberts has not had lawful employment authorization since December 2020, according to the complaint.
    Alexander Mallin, ABC News, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Promotion enabled Villa to access greater funds in the top flight, backed by owners Nassef Sawiris and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens, who took full control the year Villa won promotion.
    Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
  • The maps of those three little museums have been superimposed on each other, enabling visitors to enter the three ghost spaces simultaneously, crossing layer after layer of cultural history, with the various walls and plans collapsing into one another.
    Joanna Warsza, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Figure’s business centers around putting mortgages on the blockchain, which the company says speeds up the granting and funding of home loans.
    Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The last one standing is rewarded with a financial windfall and the granting of a single wish, any wish.
    Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Samberg will be out of commission for the first 6-8 weeks because of injury.
    Harman Dayal, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
  • During that time, more than sixty-seven thousand Palestinians have been killed, and more than a hundred and sixty-nine thousand have been injured; a United Nations commission recently described Israel’s actions as genocide.
    Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The event, launched in 1982, celebrates the freedom to read and express ideas and emphasizes the importance of fighting censorship.
    Jennifer Borresen, USA Today, 5 Oct. 2025
  • But in the small areas of freedom McAvoy allows himself outside the main thrust of the familiar rags-to-riches-to-regret arc there are sharp little digressions and darker shadowy corners that suggest there’s more to the film, and to McAvoy as a filmmaker, than initially meets the eye.
    Jessica Kiang, Variety, 4 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Such dreams of prosperity are only permitted for so long.
    Dan Duggan, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
  • If required, an individual-sized soft-sided cooler will be permitted.
    Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer, 5 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“License.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/license. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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