🇬🇧 Sanction meaning: English Vocabulary Flash Card

A sanction is a strong, serious action used to make people obey important rules or laws. It is usually a punishment, like taking away something, giving a fine, or blocking trades between countries, when someone or a group refuses to follow the rules. Sanctions are meant to pressure people or countries to change their behavior and start obeying the rules again.

The principal’s sanction for prank glitter in the hallway was making the pranksters sweep up every sparkle.

When my little brother painted the wall with toothpaste, the parental sanction was that he had to become the official wall cleaner, armed only with his old toothbrush.

The school imposed a special sanction on hallway racers: they had to walk everywhere in slow motion for a whole day.

After the dog unionized against bath time, the humans threatened a sanction: no belly rubs for unwashed rebels.

At international levels, countries sometimes use a sanction to punish another country by stopping trade or money deals—basically the grown-up version of saying, “No dessert until you follow the rules.”

The teacher announced a sanction: no art for a week. The sanction hurt the child; the brushes sat quiet. The sanction kept the class clean. When the child painted the board again, the sanction was applied. After a slow apology, the sanction lifted and the child smiled and hugged a friend.

This word is at the C2 level, which means it represents the highest mastery of English. It’s often used in specialized or highly formal contexts and helps you communicate with precision and subtlety, much like a native speaker.

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