Preauthorising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of granting approval in advance for an action or transaction; securing prior permission or acceptance before proceeding; establishing a preliminary confirmation to authorize future steps
2. Obtaining consent before taking an action or completing a transaction; arranging for authorization ahead of time; ensuring permission is obtained prior to execution
3. The act of confirming approval beforehand for a specific operation or transaction; acquiring early consent to proceed; setting up advance authorization to facilitate later processes

Etymology: "Preauthorising" is simply the British spelling of "preauthorizing," the present participle of "preauthorize," and "authorize" is the form to look at first. That verb comes from Old French "autoriser," which in turn came from Latin "auctorizare," meaning to give authority or sanction, and English took it up in the late 1300s. Its root, "auctor," means originator, creator or guarantor, so an authorization is at heart a guarantee that someone stands behind an act. The prefix "pre-" is the familiar Latin one meaning "before," so the whole word means giving that guarantee ahead of time. Like many verbs built this way, "preauthorize" appears to be a modern formation, made by attaching "pre-" to an existing verb rather than inherited from older English. Its exact first recorded use is uncertain, but it belongs to the later twentieth century, when banking, insurance and medicine began to need approval before a transaction or treatment could go ahead.

Synonyms: preapproving, preclearing, prevalidating, precertifying

Antonyms: postauthorising, unauthorising, rejecting