What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

License vs Authority - What's the difference?

license | authority |

As nouns the difference between license and authority

is that license is a legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit while authority is the power to enforce rules or give orders.

As a verb license

is the act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization.

license

English

Alternative forms

* (UK) licence (noun)

Noun

  • (label) A legal document giving official permission to do something; a permit.
  • (label) The legal terms under which a person is allowed to use a product, especially software.
    • Even if you bought this product, it does NOT belong to you. You have a license to use it under the terms of this agreement, until you breach this agreement.
  • (label) Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech).
  • (label) Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint.
  • * 1936 , , The Story of Civilization , page 520:
    • When liberty becomes license dictatorship is near.
  • (label) An academic degree, the holder of which is called a licentiate, ranking slightly below doctorate, awarded by certain European and Latin-American universities.

    • Usage notes

    * In British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, and New Zealand English the noun is spelt licence'' and the verb is ''license . * The spelling licence is not used for either part of speech in the United States.

    Verb

    (licens)
  • The act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.}}
  • Authorize officially.

    • Derived terms

    * licensable * licensee * license plate * licenser * licensor

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    *

    authority

    English

    Alternative forms

    * authourity (obsolete)

    Noun

  • (label) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
  • * 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
    • But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.
  • (label) Persons in command; specifically, government.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
    • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities . A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Legal highs: A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
  • (label) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
  • * 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman
    • To punish me for my contempt of authority', Fate has made me an ' authority myself.

    Derived terms

    * moral authority

    Related terms

    * author * authorization * authoritarian

    Statistics

    * English terms derived from Latin