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assent

UK/əˈsɛnt/US/əˈsɛnt/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,091 of 15,258mostly written

Assent is agreement given to a proposal. Give assent, nod in assent, withhold assent.

Royal Assent is the formal step that turns a bill into law in Britain, and it has not been refused since 1708. The word is more formal than agreement and implies a decision rather than an opinion.

AnonymousUnknown author · Public domain

Definitions of assent

  1. 1nounassentAgreement given to a proposal.C1

    “The council gave its assent to the plans for a new park.”

assent is an agreement.

Where it comes from

Latin assentire means to agree, from ad plus sentire, to feel or think.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *sent-

  2. Latin

    assentiō

  3. Old French

    assent

  4. Middle English

    assent

  5. English, today

    assent

From Middle English assent and assenten, from Old French assent and assentir, from Latin assentiō (whence as-).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

assent in the wild

  • The Crown provides royal assent to make bills into law.

    Parliament of Canada

  • Depending on the structure of government, this text may then be subject to assent or approval from the executive branch.

    Act of parliament

  • Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf.

    Royal assent

  • Under a modern constitutional monarchy, royal assent is considered little more than a formality.

    Royal assent

  • Before granting the assent, a relevant minister explains the general aim of the bill brought before the council.

    Council of State (Denmark)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.