The university's ethics board declined to sanction the experiment, citing inadequate consent procedures. Without that approval, the research could not legally proceed, and the team was forced to redesign its protocol from the ground up.
As used in the text, what does the word "sanction" most nearly mean?
- Acheck_circle
authorize
- B
review
- C
publish
- D
punish
Explanation
Without the board's "approval," research could not proceed — so "sanction" means to authorize. The word can also mean to punish, but context here selects the approval sense.