the.com/sanction
The one word that means both permission and punishment, depending on who's angry.
means To sanction is either to officially approve and authorize something, or to penalize someone (often a nation) for breaking a rule — the same word pulling in opposite directions.
from From Latin 'sanctio,' a binding decree or law, rooted in 'sancire,' to make sacred or inviolable — the same source that gives us 'sacred' and 'saint.' Originally a sanction was the part of a law that made it stick: the penalty attached to breaking it. From there the word drifted two ways — toward the authority that backs a rule (hence 'approval') and toward the punishment that enforces it. Both senses are simply the law showing its teeth and its seal at once.
- contradiction
- It means both to approve and to penalize
- origin
- From Latin sancire, to make sacred or binding
- economic weapon
- Nations wield it instead of armies
- church roots
- Once meant a holy decree or law
- auto-antonym
- Joins cleave and dust as a contranym
iran nuclear sanctions — us and eu imposed escalating economic sanctions starting 2006 over nuclear program
russia ukraine sanctions 2022 — western nations froze russian assets and banned energy imports after february 2022 invasion
north korea sanctions — un security council imposed comprehensive sanctions since 2006 over nuclear weapons development