Sample Sentences for
sanction
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

sanction as in:  cannot sanction such behavior

The General insists that he does not sanction any form of torture and that he has placed procedures in place to prevent it.
sanction = approve of
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • I cannot sanction that behavior.
  • When I explained that I spent most of my time with my grandparents and that I'd like to continue with that arrangement, they replied that the courts would not necessarily sanction such an arrangement.  (source)
    sanction = approve
  • No imaginable committee would ever sanction such a marriage even if Katharine, Winston's wife, could somehow have been got rid of.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 5 word variations
  • I shall see that poor lad tomorrow evening, and, with his sanction, I shall use some.  (source)
    sanction = approval
  • Such an opportunity, sanctioned by authority, had never been known before.  (source)
    sanctioned = approved
  • But the unprovoked and unsanctioned movement enraged the guard.†  (source)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unsanctioned means not and reverses the meaning of sanctioned. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
  • If you award damages for work that's illegal, you're sanctioning a company to be above the law.†  (source)
  • He campaigned against international sanctions.  (source)
    sanctions = penalties
  • By the 1300s, the Vatican sanction had helped the Knights amass so much power that Pope Clement V decided that something had to be done.  (source)
    sanction = formal approvals
  • It's like a school-sanctioned booty call.  (source)
    sanctioned = formally approved
  • The man remained where he was, in an unsanctioned part of the cage.†  (source)
  • Right here, I think, entered the austere conscience of my Puritan ancestry, impelling me toward lurid deeds and sanctioning even murder as right conduct.†  (source)
  • Ajihad won't sanction it.  (source)
    sanction = approve
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sanction as in:  sanctions against them

When they withdraw their troops from the country, international sanctions should be lifted.
sanctions = penalties
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • They are calling for a global campaign of boycotts and sanctions against Israel.
  • Your father denies his Polish ancestry, since Poland is still a noncompliant nation, and under international sanction because of it.  (source)
  • "This may result in some sanctions for you at work," one of the Officials says to my father, in a tone so mean I wonder if she will get cited herself.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 2 word variations
  • When asked to explain his decision, the president cited the United Kingdom's role in the UN's economic sanctions against the United States.  (source)
    sanctions = penalties
  • In spite of his parents' sanction he feels that he is overstepping them, correcting a mistake they've made.  (source)
  • The sanctions against your daughter stand.  (source)
  • But to answer your question: yes, some Jews did convert when the Nazis' sanctions became unbearable for them and they were effectively excluded from society.  (source)
  • ...the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members.  (source)
  • ... we were praising the fact that the day before, the General Assembly of the U.N. had voted in favor of sanctions against South Africa for the first time.  (source)
  • Saddam was smuggling oil and other items both into and out of his country, in violation of the U.N. sanctions.  (source)
  • In fact, I am in the process of preparing a demand for sanctions.†  (source)
  • If sanctions are imposed, the goat will fall.†  (source)
  • The UN condemned the invasion, demanded a withdrawal, placed economic sanctions on Iraq, and formed a blockade.†  (source)
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