imprimatur

plural imprimaturs · plural imprimantur

1. mediaAn official license to publish or print something, especially when censorship applies.

   The Cheats · A Comedy · Written in the Year, M.DC.LXII. Imprimatur, Roger L'estrange. Nov. 5. 1663. By John Wilson

   1664, John Wilson, The Cheats, publication info page

   2 more examples

   Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are ſeen together dialogue-wiſe in the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking each other with their ſhav'n reverences, whether the Author, who ſtands by in perplexity at the foot of his Epiſtle, ſhall to the Preſſe or to the ſpunge.

   1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 8

   This ingenious plan expressed in a booklet by the Italian Roman Catholic priest had received three Nihil Obstats and two Imprimaturs from his bishop.

   1943, Elisabeth Achelis, The Calendar for Everybody, New York: G. P. Putnam's sons, page 53

2. broadlyAny mark of official approval.

   Even with the imprimatur of Tynan and Hobson, the play was not an instant hit.

   2015 March 30, Michael Billington, “Look Back in Anger: how John Osborne liberated theatrical language”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   Children, the final imprimatur to family life, are being borrowed, adopted, created by artificial insemination.

   1988 June 19, Richard Hall, “Gay Fiction Comes Home”, in New York Times

   The author suggests that Grace is hoping to meet at church a respectable marriage candidate who will have the imprimatur of her pastor and the church community.

   2024 May 18, Jane Shaw, “When belief is a business”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8

   Synonyms: approval, authorization, endorsement