Permits

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. authorization granted to individuals for specific actions or tasks
2. approvals issued by a governing body enabling certain activities to take place
3. Documents issued by an authority that allow individuals to perform particular acts

Etymology: "Permits" is the plural form of "permit," so the real story belongs to "permit" itself. The verb traces back to Latin "permittere," built from "per" meaning "through" and "mittere" meaning "send," so its original sense was something like sending something through, letting it pass. From "permittere" came the Latin sense "give up" or "allow," and that idea of letting something go ahead passed into Middle English as "permitten" by way of Middle French "permettre." The noun sense, a document granting official permission, grows naturally out of that verb: a permit is the written form of an allowance. The word's "send through" root is still visible in the way a permit lets someone pass through a gate, a border, or a regulation.

Synonyms: licenses, authorizations, consents, approvals, allowances

Antonyms: prohibitions, forbiddances, restrictions, bans, interdictions