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
  • Most notably affected was the European Film Promotion delegation, which could only field 18 companies for the traditional EUROPE!
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 Sep. 2025
  • Manufacturers are typically delegated permission to perform some functions on behalf of the FAA, such as issuing airworthiness and production certifications, but Boeing lost that delegation for the two models.
    Aaron Cooper, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • But Comey did not join in that authorization, the inspector general found.
    Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Licenses must expire within one year, or the same date as the work authorization, whichever comes first.
    Aaron Cooper, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 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
  • The commission tabled the item to provide more time for Experience Fayetteville staff to evaluate the worth of the property, the house's annual expenses, a reasonable market-rate rent range and the total cost of repairs to the property paid for by Experience Fayetteville.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 30 Sep. 2025
  • However, StyleCaster may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
    Katie Decker-Jacoby, StyleCaster, 29 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Where Godard and his collaborators exulted in their freedom, Linklater was intent on painstaking accuracy.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2025
  • For director and co-writer Shinsuke Sato, a third season that moved beyond the main action of the manga allowed for greater freedom to explore the questions provoked by this Borderland reveal.
    Kayti Burt, Time, 26 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • If time permits, lock your home upon departure and disconnect utilities and appliances.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 28 Sep. 2025
  • If time permits, disconnect utilities and appliances.
    NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 28 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“License.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/license. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.

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