authorize
v.to give official permission for something to happen. You use this when someone in charge says 'yes' to a plan or a payment.
v.to grant official permission for or formal sanction to an action. Transitive — requires a direct object, often a person or a specific procedure.
“The manager must authorize your travel expenses.”
“The bank refused to authorize the transaction because the account holder had not provided a valid signature.”
“Only the chief executive is empowered to authorize expenditures exceeding the department's quarterly budget, ensuring a centralized layer of fiscal oversight for all major projects.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. In British English, the spelling 'authorise' is more common.
Authorize is transitive and requires a direct object (a noun or noun phrase), not an infinitive clause.
“The new law directs federal officials to issue guidance for these buildings and authorizes grants to test their safety and cost.”
“It’s another matter to prove whether you did or did not authorize the agent to do what it did on your behalf.”
From Middle English auctorisen, from Old French auctorisier, from Medieval Latin auctorizare, from Latin auctor. See author about the orthography with ⟨h⟩. Doublet of octroy.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.