A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym.

Examples of sanctions include:

Government and law

  • Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts
  • Economic sanctions, typically a ban on trade, possibly limited to certain sectors (such as armaments), or with certain exceptions (such as food and medicine), e.g.,
  • Sanctions against Iran
  • Sanctions against North Korea
  • International sanctions, coercive measures adopted by a country or a group of countries against another state or individual(s) in order to elicit a change in their behavior
  • International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Pragmatic sanction, historically, a sovereign's solemn decree which addresses a matter of primary importance and which has the force of fundamental law

Television episodes

  • "Sanction", Freezing season 1, episode 7 (2011)
  • "Sanctions", Gangsta episode 5 (2015)
  • "The Sanction", V: The Series episode 5 (1984)

Other uses

  • Sanctions, a mechanism of social control
  • Sports governing body or sanctioning body

See also

  • Sanctions involving Russia
  • Sanctioned name, a special name in mycology
  • Wikipedia:Sanctions