Authorization

How it is used

Used in card operations. The merchant requests an authorization, and the issuer approves or declines it in seconds. Hotels and car rental firms often take a pre-authorization, which holds part of the limit until the final amount is known. In general English it also means official permission. British spelling: authorisation.

Example sentences

1. The authorization was approved, but the merchant has not completed the sale yet.

2. The hotel took a pre-authorization of 5,000 lira when we checked in.

Common collocations

• request an authorization
• authorization code
• pre-authorization
• authorization hold

Related terms

• declineTo refuse a card payment, transaction or application. When a card is declined, the payment does not go through.
• available balanceThe amount of money in an account that you can actually spend or withdraw right now, after pending payments and holds are taken into account.
• merchantA business that accepts card or digital payments from customers for goods or services, such as a shop, restaurant or online store.
• POS terminalA device at a point of sale, such as a shop counter, that reads payment cards or phones and sends the payment for approval.
• settlementThe final step of a payment or trade, when money or securities actually move from one party to the other and the deal is complete.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• authorization · Software Engineering
• authorization · Cybersecurity

More terms: Payments & Cards

• credit card
• debit card
• wire transfer
• IBAN
• transaction
• credit limit
• contactless payment
• minimum payment
• direct debit
• chargeback
• ATM
• PIN