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Approbation vs Approval

Approbation and approval are closely related in meaning.

Approbation stresses admiration or high favor and is applied either to actual expressions of such feeling or to the state of mind of a person whose favorable opinion is manifest.

  • his speech won general approbation
  • terms of approbation
  • feels pleasure in the approbation of his superiors

Approval requires qualification by words like warm, hearty, or enthusiastic to be interchangeable with approbation, especially when the latter denotes expression of favor. For approval, in itself, implies no greater favor than that involved in giving full consent with no reservations or in sanctioning. It therefore is applied especially to the formal act of approving or to a formal statement of permission, endorsement, or confirmation.

  • no interscholastic games are to be played without the approval of the principal
  • the president gave his approval to the proposed legislation in yesterday’s conference with reporters