a. [ L. approbatus, p. p. of approbare to approve. ] Approved. [ Obs. ] Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To express approbation of; to approve; to sanction officially. [ 1913 Webster ]

I approbate the one, I reprobate the other. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word is obsolete in England, but is occasionally heard in the United States, chiefly in a technical sense for license; as, a person is approbated to preach; approbated to keep a public house. Pickering (1816). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. approbatio: cf. F. approbation. See Approve to prove. ] 1. Proof; attestation. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval; sanction; commendation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many . . . joined in a loud hum of approbation. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The silent approbation of one's own breast. Melmoth. [ 1913 Webster ]

Animals . . . love approbation or praise. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Probation or novitiate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This day my sister should the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Approval; liking; sanction; consent; concurrence. -- Approbation, Approval. Approbation and approval have the same general meaning, assenting to or declaring as good, sanction, commendation; but approbation is stronger and more positive. “We may be anxious for the approbation of our friends; but we should be still more anxious for the approval of our own consciences.” “He who is desirous to obtain universal approbation will learn a good lesson from the fable of the old man and his ass.” “The work has been examined by several excellent judges, who have expressed their unqualified approval of its plan and execution.” [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. approbatif. ] Approving, or implying approbation. Milner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The quality of being approbative. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Phren.) Love of approbation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] One who approves. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Containing or expressing approbation; commendatory. Sheldon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. comprobatus, p. p. of comprobare, to approve wholly. ] To agree; to concur. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. comprobatio. ] 1. Joint attestation; proof. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Approbation. [ Obs. ] Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. dis- + approbation: cf. F. désapprobation. Cf. Disapprove. ] The act of disapproving; mental condemnation of what is judged wrong, unsuitable, or inexpedient; feeling of censure. We have ever expressed the most unqualified disapprobation of all the steps. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Containing disapprobation; serving to disapprove. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. improbatus, p. p. of improbare to disapprove; pref. im- not + probare to approve. ] To disapprove of; to disallow. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. improbatio. ] 1. The act of disapproving; disapprobation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Scots Law) The act by which falsehood and forgery are proved; an action brought for the purpose of having some instrument declared false or forged. Bell.

{ , a. Implying, or tending to, improbation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From L. probatus, p. p. of probare to prove. See Prove. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Proof. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) (a) Official proof; especially, the proof before a competent officer or tribunal that an instrument offered, purporting to be the last will and testament of a person deceased, is indeed his lawful act; the copy of a will proved, under the seal of the Court of Probate, delivered to the executors with a certificate of its having been proved. Bouvier. Burrill. (b) The right or jurisdiction of proving wills. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or belonging to a probate, or court of probate; as, a probate record. [ 1913 Webster ]

Probate Court, or
Court of Probate, a court for the probate of wills. --
Probate duty, a government tax on property passing by will. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To obtain the official approval of, as of an instrument purporting to be the last will and testament; as, the executor has probated the will. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. probatio, fr. probare to try, examine, prove: cf. F. probation. See Prove. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of proving; also, that which proves anything; proof. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When by miracle God dispensed great gifts to the laity, . . . he gave probation that he intended that all should prophesy and preach. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any proceeding designed to ascertain truth, to determine character, qualification, etc.; examination; trial; as, to engage a person on probation. Hence, specifically: (a) The novitiate which a person must pass in a convent, to probe his or her virtue and ability to bear the severities of the rule. (b) The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor. (c) Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his character, and becoming qualified for a happier state. [ 1913 Webster ]

No [ view of human life ] seems so reasonable as that which regards it as a state of probation. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Probationary. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to probation; serving for trial. [ 1913 Webster ]

To consider this life . . . as a probationary state. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who is undergoing probation; one who is on trial; a novice. [ 1913 Webster ]

While yet a young probationer,
And candidate of heaven. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A student in divinity, who, having received certificates of good morals and qualifications from his university, is admitted to several trials by a presbytery, and, on acquitting himself well, is licensed to preach. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being a probationer; novitiate. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A state of probation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. probativus: cf. F. probatif. ] Serving for trial or proof; probationary; as, probative judgments; probative evidence. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] 1. An examiner; an approver. Maydman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (O. Eng. Law) One who, when indicted for crime, confessed it, and accused others, his accomplices, in order to obtain pardon; a state's evidence. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. probatoire. ] 1. Serving for trial; probationary. Abp. Bramhall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to, or serving for, proof. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Probatory term (Law), a time for taking testimony. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. reprobatus, p. p. of reprobare to disapprove, condemn. See Reprieve, Reprove. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Jer. vi. 30. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Abandoned to punishment; hence, morally abandoned and lost; given up to vice; depraved. [ 1913 Webster ]

And strength, and art, are easily outdone
By spirits reprobate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of or pertaining to one who is given up to wickedness; as, reprobate conduct. “Reprobate desire.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Abandoned; vitiated; depraved; corrupt; wicked; profligate; base; vile. See Abandoned. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One morally abandoned and lost. [ 1913 Webster ]

I acknowledge myself for a reprobate, a villain, a traitor to the king. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reprobated p. pr. & vb. n. Reprobating. ] 1. To disapprove with detestation or marks of extreme dislike; to condemn as unworthy; to disallow; to reject. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such an answer as this is reprobated and disallowed of in law; I do not believe it, unless the deed appears. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every scheme, every person, recommended by one of them, was reprobated by the other. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To abandon to punishment without hope of pardon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To condemn; reprehend; censure; disown; abandon; reject. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being reprobate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who reprobates. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. réprobation, or L. reprobatio. ] 1. The act of reprobating; the state of being reprobated; strong disapproval or censure. [ 1913 Webster ]

The profligate pretenses upon which he was perpetually soliciting an increase of his disgraceful stipend are mentioned with becoming reprobation. Jeffrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Set a brand of reprobation on clipped poetry and false coin. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) The predestination of a certain number of the human race as reprobates, or objects of condemnation and punishment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Theol.) One who believes in reprobation. See Reprobation, 2. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to reprobation; expressing reprobation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Reprobative. [ 1913 Webster ]