'licence' definitions:

Definition of 'licence'

(from WordNet)
noun
Excessive freedom; lack of due restraint; "when liberty becomes license dictatorship is near"- Will Durant; "the intolerable license with which the newspapers break...the rules of decorum"- Edmund Burke [syn: license, licence]
noun
Freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech) [syn: license, licence]
noun
A legal document giving official permission to do something [syn: license, licence, permit]
verb
Authorize officially; "I am licensed to practice law in this state" [syn: license, licence, certify] [ant: decertify, derecognise, derecognize]

Definition of 'licence'

From: GCIDE
  • licence \licence\ (l[imac]"sens), licenced \licenced\, licencee \licencee\ Same as license, licensed, licensee. [WordNet 1.5]

Definition of 'licence'

From: GCIDE
  • License \Li"cense\ (l[imac]"sens), n. [Written also licence.] [F. licence, L. licentia, fr. licere to be permitted, prob. orig., to be left free to one; akin to linquere to leave. See Loan, and cf. Illicit, Leisure.]
  • 1. Authority or liberty given to do or forbear any act; especially, a formal permission from the proper authorities to perform certain acts or to carry on a certain business, which without such permission would be illegal; a grant of permission; as, a license to preach, to practice medicine, to sell gunpowder or intoxicating liquors. [1913 Webster]
  • To have a license and a leave at London to dwell. --P. Plowman. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The document granting such permission. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Excess of liberty; freedom abused, or used in contempt of law or decorum; disregard of law or propriety. [1913 Webster]
  • License they mean when they cry liberty. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. That deviation from strict fact, form, or rule, in which an artist or writer indulges, assuming that it will be permitted for the sake of the advantage or effect gained; as, poetic license; grammatical license, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Leave; liberty; permission. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'licence'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'licence'