Other forms: approved, approving, approves
To approve something is to officially agree that it may go ahead. Approve the plan, the loan was approved, approved by the board.
In that sense it takes a direct object: approve the budget. Approve of is a different thing and means to think well of: her parents did not approve of him. The two are easy to confuse and mean quite different amounts. Note approval, both the official permission and the good opinion; approved, meaning officially permitted; and the phrase on approval, meaning you can return goods if you do not want them.
1verbapproveTo officially agree that something may go ahead.
“The plans were approved after three rounds of changes.”
2verbthinkTo think well of somebody or something.
“She did not approve of the arrangement and said so once.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
approve is a way of agreeing.
Latin approbare is ad-, to, plus probare, to test or prove — the same root as probe, probable and prove. To approve was originally to find something proved good, so official approval began as a verdict rather than a permission.
Middle English
aproven
English, today
approve
Built from
From Middle English aproven. From Middle English aproven, appreoven, appreven, apreven, borrowed from Old French aprover, approver, approuvir, appreuver (“to approve”), from Latin approbō, from ad + probō (“to esteem as good, approve, prove”). a doublet of approbate. by surface analysis, ad- + prove.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA