ENGLISH
REFERENCE

permit

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford US //ˈpɝˌmɪt// per·mit Archaic General-service

n. an official document that gives you legal permission to do something. You often need one for things like parking, building a house, or working in a new country.

n. an official document or certificate providing formal authorization to perform a specific action or occupy a space. Often issued by a government or regulatory body.


SIMPLE

You need a parking permit to leave your car here.

CONTEXTUAL

The construction crew had to stop work because they did not have the correct building permit from the city.

COMPLEX

Securing a research permit for the protected rainforest requires a detailed proposal outlining the environmental impact of the study and the expected duration of the stay.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English permitten, borrowed from Middle French permettre, from Latin permittō (“give up, allow”), from per (“through”) + mittō (“send”).

Etymology 2

An irregular borrowing from Spanish palometa, probably from a Doric variant of Ancient Greek πηλαμύς (pēlamús, “young tuna”).

Usage

Commonly followed by the preposition 'for' or an infinitive 'to' phrase.

Pitfall

I have a permit of parkingI have a parking permitLearners often use a prepositional phrase with 'of' instead of using 'permit' as the head of a compound noun or following it with an infinitive.

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