licence

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪ.səns/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑe.səns/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪsəns/, [ˈlɑe̯.səns]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: li‧cence

Noun

licence (countable and uncountable, plural licences)

1. UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore standard spelling of license.
   • 1944, The Labour Gazette, volume 44, page 720:

     In some areas they have attempted to decasualize certain types of employment and to control street-trading by a local licensing system requiring juveniles to obtain their licences through the committees.

   • 2017, Allison Sherman, Artistic Practices and Cultural Transfer in Early Modern Italy: Essays in Honour of Deborah Howard, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Serlio criticises the artistic licence taken by both ancient and contemporary architects, here specifically related to the confusion created by the rich decoration of the arch–in his illustrations, he stripped the monument of most of its beautifully […]

Derived terms

• artistic licence
• driver licence
• driver's licence
• driving licence
• firearms licence
• fly without a licence
• free on license
• gun licence
• high licence
• licenced
• licencee
• licence laundering
• licenceless
• licencelike
• licence plate
• licence to crenellate
• licence to print money
• licentiate
• licentious
• licentiously
• licentiousness
• liquor licence
• multi-licence
• multilicence
• off-licence
• off licence
• pen licence
• poetic licence
• public licence
• road fund licence
• special licence
• sublicence, sub-licence

Translations

license — see license

Verb

licence (third-person singular simple present licences, present participle licencing, simple past and past participle licenced)

1. (UK, Canada, South Africa, nonstandard) Misspelling of license.

Usage notes

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

Translations

license — see license

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin licentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪt͡sɛnt͡sɛ]

Noun

licence f

1. licence (UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand), license (US)

Declension

Declension of licence (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	licence	licence
genitive	licence	licencí
dative	licenci	licencím
accusative	licenci	licence
vocative	licence	licence
locative	licenci	licencích
instrumental	licencí	licencemi

Further reading

• “licence”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “licence”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French licence, borrowed from Latin licentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.sɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Homophone: licences

Noun

licence f (plural licences)

1. licence
2. permit, certificate
3. (education) bachelor's degree (three-year long)

   Synonym: (Belgium) bachelier

4. (somewhat archaic) licence: excessive or undue freedom or liberty
   • 1789 October 21, Assemblée nationale [National Assembly], Décret du 21 octobre 1789 sur les attroupements [Decree of 21 October 1789 regarding mobs]‎^[1], Paris, page 475:

     L'Assemblée nationale, considérant que la liberté affermit les empires, mais que la licence les détruit,... a décrété la présente loi martiale:

     The National Assembly, considering that liberty strengthens the empires, but licence destroys them,... has decreed the present martial law:

   • 1791, Louis XVI, “Message du roi à l'Assemblée nationale, le 13 septembre 1791 [Message of the King to the National Assembly, 13 September 1791]”, in Constitution française, présentée au roi par l'Assemblée nationale, le 3 septembre 1791 [French Constitution, presented to the King by the National Assembly, 3 September 1791], Dijon: Imprimerie de P. Causse, page 80:

     Que chacun se rappelle le moment où je me suis éloigné de Paris: la Constitution étoit près de s'achever; et cependant l'autorité des loix sembloit s'affoiblir chaque jour;... la licence des écrits étoit au comble; aucun pouvoir n'étoit respecté.

     Let everyone recalls himself of the moment when I was away from Paris: the Constitution was about to be completed; and yet the authority of the laws seem to weaken every day;... the licence of the writings was at its peak; no power was respected.

Derived terms

• licence poétique
• licencier
  • licenciement
• licencieux

Related terms

• loisir

Descendants

• → Turkish: lisans
• → Persian: لیسانس (lisâns)

Further reading

• “licence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

licenc +‎ -e (possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlit͡sɛnt͡sɛ]
• Hyphenation: li‧cen‧ce

Noun

licence

1. third-person singular single-possession possessive of licenc

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	licence	—
accusative	licencét	—
dative	licencének	—
instrumental	licencével	—
causal-final	licencéért	—
translative	licencévé	—
terminative	licencéig	—
essive-formal	licenceként	—
essive-modal	licencéül	—
inessive	licencében	—
superessive	licencén	—
adessive	licencénél	—
illative	licencébe	—
sublative	licencére	—
allative	licencéhez	—
elative	licencéből	—
delative	licencéről	—
ablative	licencétől	—
non-attributive possessive – singular	licencéé	—
non-attributive possessive – plural	licencééi	—

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin licentia.

Noun

licence oblique singular, f (oblique plural licences, nominative singular licence, nominative plural licences)

1. leave; permission to be away, to be not present

Descendants

• French: licence
• → English: licence, license