Word of the Day

: December 29, 2021

carte blanche

play
noun KART-BLAHNCH

What It Means

Carte blanche is the permission to do something however one chooses to do it.

// The parents granted their children carte blanche to decorate their bedrooms as they wished.

See the entry >

carte blanche in Context

"'I know you're used to having carte blanche to handle the mission as you see fit, 007. You have your independent streak and it's served you well in the past.' A dark look. 'Most of the time.'"— Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche, 2011


Did You Know?

Carte blanche is much like a blank check. In French, carte means "document" and blanche means "blank," so the phrase means "blank document." English retained that literal meaning: a carte blanche was a blank document signed in advance by one party and given to the other with permission to fill in conditions later. Much like blank check, carte blanche also took on the extended meaning "complete freedom."



Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a word meaning "supreme authority": d _ _ _ n _ _ n.

VIEW THE ANSWER

Podcast


More Words of the Day

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!