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APPROVING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The formal act of approving
Example:
his decision merited the approval of any sensible person
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("approving" is a kind of...):
support (aiding the cause or policy or interests of)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "approving"):
acceptance; acceptation; adoption; espousal (the act of accepting with approval; favorable reception)
backing; backup; championship; patronage (the act of providing approval and support)
admiration; appreciation (a favorable judgment)
reinforcement; reward (an act performed to strengthen approved behavior)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Expressing or manifesting praise or approval
Example:
an affirmative nod
Synonyms:
affirmative; approbative; approbatory; approving; plausive
Classified under:
Similar:
favorable; favourable (encouraging or approving or pleasing)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb approve
Context examples:
"Good girl! Call Meg, and tell her you'll give in," said Laurie, with an approving pat, which annoyed Amy more than the 'giving in'.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
To her voluntary communications Emma could get no more approving reply, than, Very well.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The East room, as it had been called ever since Maria Bertram was sixteen, was now considered Fanny's, almost as decidedly as the white attic: the smallness of the one making the use of the other so evidently reasonable that the Miss Bertrams, with every superiority in their own apartments which their own sense of superiority could demand, were entirely approving it; and Mrs. Norris, having stipulated for there never being a fire in it on Fanny's account, was tolerably resigned to her having the use of what nobody else wanted, though the terms in which she sometimes spoke of the indulgence seemed to imply that it was the best room in the house.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
If Meg had wanted a reward for hours of patient labor, she received it in the hearty pressure of her father's hand and the approving smile he gave her.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Happily he was not farther from approving matrimony than from foreseeing it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Nothing could be more grateful to her; and she was on the point of giving him an approving look, when it was all frightened off by his adding a something too pointed of his hoping soon to have an assistant, a friend, a guide in every plan of utility or charity for Everingham: a somebody that would make Everingham and all about it a dearer object than it had ever been yet.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
"Good boy! I'm glad he's gone," said Amy, with an approving smile.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
John and Isabella, and every other friend, were agreed in approving it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
"Well, I call that plucky!" and young Mr. Lamb turned an approving glance upon Amy, wondering what his mother could be saying to make the girl look so red and uncomfortable.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
"I like that about the splendid picture," was Amy's approving remark, as Jo paused.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
