rubber stamp
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Organisation, or process, making decisions or approving matters routinely or without real power.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruhberstampSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹʌbɚsˈtæmp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
figuratively
Of a person, organisation, or process, making decisions or approving matters routinely or without real power.
noun
literally
A stamp (usually made of rubber) for imprinting a mark or design by hand
literally
A piece of rubber or similar material with a design or text carved or molded for the purpose of transferring ink or dye to imprint that design on another object.
figuratively
A person or organisation that approves, routinely or as a formality, matters decided by some other person or organisation.
verb
figuratively
To process, approve or decide matters routinely rather than through careful consideration.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a person, organisation, or process, making decisions or approving matters routinely or without real power.
Used this way, rubber stamp is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.