greenlight en · VERB
Pronunciation
- /ˈɡɹiːnlaɪt/
- (US) audio
Etymology
From green light.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic, informal, transitive) To approve; to permit to proceed.
Labour's Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds hit back at Sunak and said that his failure to greenlight major projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail showed that government claims of levelling up the country were "not supported by the evidence".
2020 December 2, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Sunak focuses on jobs, infrastructure and 'levelling up'”, in Rail, page 7:The United Kingdom (UK) is reportedly waiting for US approval before greenlighting Ukrainian forces to use UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles for long-range strikes against military targets in Russia.
2024 August 11, Riley Bailey, Christina Harward, Angelica Evans, Grace Mappes, Davit Gasparyan, Frederick W. Kagan, “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 17, 2024”, in Ukraine Project, The Institute for the Study of War:
- (idiomatic, slang, transitive) To approve or requisition the harming or death of; to put a hit out on.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| green-light | alternative | lexicographic | |
| greenlighted | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| greenlighted | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| greenlighting | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| greenlights | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| greenlit | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| greenlit | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
Synonyms
permit (approve) · approve (approve) · rubber stamp (approve) · wave through (approve) · give the green light (approve) · allow (approve) · give the go-ahead (approve)
Translations (11)
de grünes Licht geben (to approve) · it omologare (to approve) · es dar luz verde a (to approve) · pt dar sinal verde (o) (to approve) · it approvare (to approve) · pt aprovar (to approve) · pt permitir (to approve) · fi näyttää vihreää valoa (to approve) · de genehmigen (to approve) · hu zöld utat ad/enged (to approve) · fr donner le/son feu vert pour (to approve)