license
verb/ˈlaɪsns/
/ˈlaɪsns/
(also British English, less frequent licence)
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they license | /ˈlaɪsns/ /ˈlaɪsns/ |
| he / she / it licenses | /ˈlaɪsnsɪz/ /ˈlaɪsnsɪz/ |
| past simple licensed | /ˈlaɪsnst/ /ˈlaɪsnst/ |
| past participle licensed | /ˈlaɪsnst/ /ˈlaɪsnst/ |
| -ing form licensing | /ˈlaɪsnsɪŋ/ /ˈlaɪsnsɪŋ/ |
- to give somebody official permission to do, own, or use something
- license something The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US.
- (British English) licensing hours (= the times when alcohol can be sold at a pub, etc.)
- license somebody/something to do something They had licensed the firm to produce the drug.
Extra Examples- The company plans to license the technology to others.
- The drug is not licensed for long-term use.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryLicense is used with these nouns as the object:- invention
Word Originlate Middle English: from licence. The spelling -se arose by analogy with pairs such as practice, practise.Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
license