as in approval
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as in approving
to give official acceptance of as satisfactory
the administration will sanction almost any field trip with educational value
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Recent Examples of sanctioning
Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 18 Dec. 2025
The sanctioning of high school sports is critical to allow student-athletes to safely participate in sports without the risk of exploitation.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
There is increasing international condemnation and sanctioning of some of the government’s more prominent members who are accused of using genocidal language against the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.
—Asher Kaufman, The Conversation, 23 Aug. 2025
Jerry Perez, The Drive, 28 Jan. 2026
The sanctioning body reverted to The Chase earlier this month — a 10-race postseason.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 26 Jan. 2026
Villa’s decision-makers were not wholly sure in sanctioning Malen’s departure and had been weighing up the pros and cons earlier in the week.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Those choices included censuring and sanctioning me, a military veteran commissioned through CU Boulder, the only Black Regent, and the first Black woman to serve on the board in 43 years.
—Wanda James, Denver Post, 13 Jan. 2026
The bill was viewed as sanctioning discrimination against the LGBTQ community and later amended.
—Alexandria Burris, IndyStar, 12 Nov. 2025
Yet, the jury criminalized one set of transactions while sanctioning the other, without any meaningful legal standard to distinguish between them.
—Jim Saunders, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
Treasury is also sanctioning dozens of subsidiaries of Rosneft and Lukoil.
—Rachel Frazin, The Hill, 22 Oct. 2025
This could include sanctioning, censuring or suspending a judge, or recommending a judge be removed from office.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
Earlier this month, Crawford was stripped of the World Boxing Council super middleweight title for allegedly failing to pay sanctioning fees for his last two fighst.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 18 Dec. 2025
The sanctioning of high school sports is critical to allow student-athletes to safely participate in sports without the risk of exploitation.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
There is increasing international condemnation and sanctioning of some of the government’s more prominent members who are accused of using genocidal language against the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.
—Asher Kaufman, The Conversation, 23 Aug. 2025
Verb
This involves running a candidate event, which is essentially a mock WRC weekend that will evaluate the location’s ability to host a major event in terms of logistics, safety, crowd management, and race sanctioning.
—Jerry Perez, The Drive, 28 Jan. 2026
The sanctioning body reverted to The Chase earlier this month — a 10-race postseason.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 26 Jan. 2026
Villa’s decision-makers were not wholly sure in sanctioning Malen’s departure and had been weighing up the pros and cons earlier in the week.
—Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2026
Those choices included censuring and sanctioning me, a military veteran commissioned through CU Boulder, the only Black Regent, and the first Black woman to serve on the board in 43 years.
—Wanda James, Denver Post, 13 Jan. 2026
The bill was viewed as sanctioning discrimination against the LGBTQ community and later amended.
—Alexandria Burris, IndyStar, 12 Nov. 2025
Yet, the jury criminalized one set of transactions while sanctioning the other, without any meaningful legal standard to distinguish between them.
—Jim Saunders, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2025
Treasury is also sanctioning dozens of subsidiaries of Rosneft and Lukoil.
—Rachel Frazin, The Hill, 22 Oct. 2025
This could include sanctioning, censuring or suspending a judge, or recommending a judge be removed from office.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sanctioning
Noun
-
The practice allows home-state senators to block nominees from their state by withholding approval — a power Trump has likened to the Senate filibuster and urged Republicans to abolish.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Jan. 2026
-
The crowd rose to its feet, clapping and shouting in approval.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Increasing affordable housing units by 2,500 and approving permits for 5,000 more new homes of any kind.—
Jon Murray,
Denver Post,
27 Jan. 2026
-
An Ipsos poll from April 2025 found Americans slightly more disapproving (53 percent) than approving (46 percent) of his handling of immigration.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Used with the permission of the publisher, Viking.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
-
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce did not grant a license or permission of any kind to the production involving Sydney Sweeney as reported by TMZ, nor did anyone seek a license or permission from the Chamber for that production.—
Christina Dugan Ramirez,
FOXNews.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
America’s ratification that year broke a logjam of inaction by nations that had signed the agreement but were wary about actually ratifying it as a legal document.—
Gary W. Yohe,
The Conversation,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Key members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Sunday to keep production levels steady through the end of March, once again ratifying a decision first made in November to suspend last year’s sequence of swift increases.—
Grant Smith,
Fortune,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Her longtime rival, Tonya Harding, yearned to win gold at the Lillehammer Olympics—not just for the accolade itself, but for the windfall of lucrative endorsements that would follow such a victory.—
Natasha O'Neill,
Vanity Fair,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Among the violations for which troopers most frequently issued citations in 2025 were careless driving, operating a motorcycle without a license endorsement, and speeding 10 mph to 29 mph over the limit.—
Bruce Finley,
Denver Post,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
And celebrities were certainly not confirming the surgeon who did their facelift, or publicly sharing the CCs of their breast implants.—
Patricia Tortolani,
Allure,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Every four years or so, the amount of money that miners get for confirming transactions is cut in half.—
K.H. Koehler,
jsonline.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
These critiques were made during a time of growing revulsion against slum clearance and heavy-handed urban-renewal attempts; the reentry of the creative classes to city centers was only beginning to gain notice.—
Idrees Kahloon,
The Atlantic,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Back in 1997, in Huambo, Angola, just a few miles from one of the sources of the Okavango, my mother walked through a live minefield being cleared by the HALO Trust, a humanitarian land mine clearance charity.—
Lizz Schumer,
PEOPLE,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Between the time of the Revolution and the ratification of the Constitution, the framers had become increasingly suspicious of the democratic excesses of legislatures.—
Bernadette Meyler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
-
European Union lawmakers narrowly voted Wednesday to delay ratification of a major EU-Mercosur trade pact, sending it to the bloc’s top court instead.—
Lorne Cook,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sanctioning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sanctioning. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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