Meaning & use
approver
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
A person or body with the power to say yes to a request, plan or payment.
Grammar: Often used in business and software workflows: the approver signs off.
Patterns
- the approver of something
- an approver for something
Your manager is the approver for all travel requests.
The document is sent to the approver for a final check.
Each expense must be signed by an approver.
nouncountablelegalold-fashioned
In old English law, a criminal who confessed and accused partners in return for a lighter sentence.
Grammar: Historical legal term, replaced today by terms like informant or witness for the prosecution.
Patterns
- turn approver
The thief turned approver and named the rest of the gang.
In the old trial, the approver gave evidence against his companions.
Historians found records of an approver in the court papers.
Word forms
| plural | approvers |
|---|
Common combinations
- final approver
- The director is the final approver of the budget.
- designated approver
- A designated approver must sign every purchase order.
- approver's signature
- The form lacks the approver's signature.
- assign an approver
- The system lets you assign an approver to each request.
- turn approver
- The accomplice turned approver to avoid a harsher penalty.
Synonyms and how they differ
- authorizer
- Authorizer stresses the power to give formal permission, often in finance, while approver is more general.
- supervisor
- A supervisor oversees work but may not have the power to say yes to a particular request.
- sanctioner
- Sanctioner is rare and formal, meaning one who gives official permission.
- informer
- Informer matches the older legal sense, but usually has a negative sense of betraying others.
Opposites
Word family
- approve verb
- to officially agree to something, or to like it
- approval noun
- official agreement, or a favorable opinion
- disapprove verb
- to think something is wrong or bad
- approving adjective
- showing a favorable opinion
Commonly confused: approver or prover? approver or improver?
approver vs prover
A prover shows that something is true, for example in mathematics, while an approver gives permission.
approver vs improver
An improver is something or someone that makes things better, and is a different word.
Practice
Before the purchase goes through, the ___ must sign the request.
Choose one answer.
An approver is the person who has the authority to agree to a request. An applicant is the person who makes it, and a recipient receives something.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “approver”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.