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I have read this word quite often and always tried to elicit its meaning from the context and circumstances in which it was said.. More often than not I took it as a word for official ban or penalty.. until recently when I was watching an interview in which the interviewee felt offended over a question asked by someone in the audience and refused to answer it and said "she do not sanction impoliteness"...contextually meaning approval or consent. When I googled its meaning, it offered me two usages :-

  1. a threatened penalty for disobeying a law or rule; syn- penalty, ban, deterrent, correction

  2. official permission or approval for an action; syn- permission ,authority, agreement

Both of them are almost contradictory and do not offer an unambiguous understanding when used in sentence.

For example: the court sanctioned the proposal. Did the court approved or deterred?

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    It has two, conflicting meanings. There are other words in English like this. Sometimes a sentence is ambiguous. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Oct 20 '15 at 15:54
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    In your example "The court sanctioned the proposal.", it seems strange to me that a proposal could be penalized or deterred from further action for doing something wrong -- therefore, in this case, sanctioned seems to mean approved. Sentences with words like sanction and moot can be tricky to decipher. – Hypaethral Oct 20 '15 at 16:04
  • "legitimize" or "harm legitimately" – Greg Lee Oct 20 '15 at 16:41

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