license
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a license to (do something)
The authority or permission to do something. The pharmaceutical company treated its sole ownership of lifesaving drug's formula as a license to charge exorbitant amounts of money for it. The secret agent was granted a license to kill by the CIA. All these hefty parking fees and fines are basically a license to print money for the city.
a license to kill
The authority or permission to kill people. Popularized by the spy franchise James Bond. The secret agent was granted a license to kill by the CIA. The yahoos in this would-be militia act as though they have a license to kill. You expect me to believe that that doofus is a spy with a license to kill? Please.
a license to print money
An activity, business model, or company that yields very high profits but requires little or no effort to do so. All these hefty parking fees and fines are just a license to print money for the city. These trashy gossip magazines are of such low quality, yet they always fly off the shelves. The whole racket is a license to print money. Well, yeah, when a company acquires a wildly popular film franchise, they're basically acquiring a license to print money.
artistic license
1. Intentional violations of or deviations from traditional forms, standards, or syntax by a writer in order to achieve a particular effect. Don't get hung up on adhering too strictly to iambic pentameter—you can use a bit of artistic license if it means preserving the meaning and rhythm you want. Any two-bit poet can string together a jumble of words and call it artistic license. Class, you can't just do whatever you want and call it "artistic license." If the homework assignment says you have to write a sonnet, then you have to write an actual sonnet, OK?
2. Minor changes to or misrepresentations of facts or history in the name of art or for the sake of an agenda. People complain about minor inaccuracies in historical dramas, but honestly they wouldn't be able to make the movies marketable without using a little artistic license. So I used a little artistic license to make the story more interesting, so what? OK, this goes way beyond "artistic license"—you've completely changed most of my life story!
be a license to print money
To yield very high profits but require little or no effort to do so, as of an activity, business model, company, etc. All these hefty parking fees and fines are just a license to print money for the city. These trashy gossip magazines are of such low quality, yet they always fly off the shelves. The whole racket is a license to print money. A wildly popular film franchise is basically a license to print money.
creative license
1. Intentional violations of or deviations from traditional forms, standards, or syntax by a writer in order to achieve a particular effect. Don't get hung up on adhering too strictly to iambic pentameter in your poem. You can use a bit of creative license if it means preserving the meaning and rhythm you want. Any two-bit poet can string together a jumble of words and call it creative license. I don't think you can take creative license when the assignment is, specifically, to write a sonnet.
2. Minor changes to or misrepresentations of facts or history in the name of art or for the sake of an agenda. People complain about inaccuracies in historical dramas, but they wouldn't be able to make the movies marketable without using a little bit of creative license. If that's the story she told you, she sure used a lot of creative license—it's only about 40% true! I don't appreciate you using creative license to make me look like the bad guy here. You're not exactly blameless, you know!
literary license
Minor changes to or misrepresentations of facts or history in the name of art or for the sake of an agenda. People complain about inaccuracies in historical dramas, but they wouldn't be able to make the movies marketable without using a little bit of literary license.
See also: license
poetic license
1. Intentional violations of or deviations from traditional forms, standards, or syntax by a writer in order to achieve a particular effect. Don't get hung up on adhering too strictly to iambic pentameter—you can use a bit of poetic license if it means preserving the meaning and rhythm you want. Any two-bit poet can string together a jumble of words and call it poetic license.
2. Minor changes to or misrepresentations of facts or history in the name of art or for the sake of an agenda. People complain about minor inaccuracies in historical dramas, but honestly they wouldn't be able to make the movies marketable without using a little poetic license.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
license to do something
permission, right, or justification to do something. You have no license to behave in that manner! Who granted you license to enter my house without knocking?
poetic license
liberties or license of the type taken by artists, especially poets, to violate patterns of rhyme, harmony, structure, etc. I couldn't tell whether he kept making spelling mistakes or if it was just poetic license.
*(a) right to something
and *(the) right to somethinga privilege or license to have something. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give someone ~.) I have the right to have the kind of house I want. You have a right to any house you can afford.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
poetic license
Also, artistic license. The liberty taken by a writer or artist in deviating from conventional form or fact to achieve an effect. For example, I've never seen grass or a tree of that color; but that's artistic license. [Late 1700s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.