license - Definition | Dictionary definition of license

Definition of license

a legal document giving official permission to do something

Types:: show 11 types...; hide 11 types...; building permit
a document authorizing the holder to construct a building of a particular kind on a particular lot; driver's licence, driver's license, driving licence, driving license
a license authorizing the bearer to drive a motor vehicle; fishing licence, fishing license, fishing permit
a license authorizing the bearer to fish during a specified period of time; game license, hunting licence, hunting license, hunting permit
a license authorizing the bearer to kill a certain type of animal during a specified period of time; learner's permit
a document authorizing the bearer to learn to drive an automobile; letter of mark and reprisal, letter of marque, letters of marque
a license to a private citizen to seize property of another nation; liquor licence, liquor license
a license authorizing the holder to sell alcoholic beverages; on-license
a license to sell liquor for consumption on the premises; marriage licence, marriage license, wedding licence, wedding license
a license authorizing two people to marry; occupation licence, occupation license
a license to pursue a particular occupation; liberty chit, pass
a permit to enter or leave a military installation

Type of:: instrument, legal document, legal instrument, official document
(law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)

Types:: poetic license
license used by a writer or artist to heighten the effect of their work

excessive freedom; lack of due restraint

"when liberty becomes license dictatorship is near"- Will Durant

"the intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum"- Edmund Burke

the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization

Types:: show 7 types...; hide 7 types...; clearance
permission to proceed; conge, congee
formal permission to depart; allowance
the act of allowing; tolerance
the act of tolerating something; dispensation
an exemption from some rule or obligation; variance
an official dispensation to act contrary to a rule or regulation (typically a building regulation); toleration
official recognition of the right of individuals to hold dissenting opinions (especially in religion)