imprimatur
/ˌɪmprɪˈmeɪtə
/ /ˌɪmprɪˈmɑːtə/ /ˌɪmprɪˈmɑːtʊə/noun
1An official licence issued by the Roman Catholic Church to print an ecclesiastical or religious book: the imprimatur for this edition was granted by Cardinal O’Casey...
- That particular debate, so far as the Church was concerned, had been closed since at least 1741 when Benedict XIV bid the Holy Office grant an imprimatur to the first edition of the Complete Works of Galileo.
- Summers declared, ‘As Baptists we need no one man to stamp an imprimatur, nihil obstat on our writings.’
- And the document dealing with it wasn't issued by the Pope, though it bore his imprimatur.
1.1A person’s authoritative approval: the original LP enjoyed the imprimatur of the composer...
- One view is that they must receive the imprimatur of State consent through custom or treaty in order to become international law.
- The funny thing is, Goldberg's endorsement may not be the imprimatur it may have seemed.
- It's a sign of the times that the imprimatur of a business carries more authority than do the efforts of an individual arts professional.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin, 'let it be printed', from the verb imprimere (see imprint).