Sanction Explained

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

Arts, entertainment, and media

• The Eiger Sanction (novel), a 1972 thriller novel by Trevanian, the pen name of Rodney William Whitaker
• The Eiger Sanction (film), the 1975 film adaptation of Trevanian's novel
• The Loo Sanction, Trevanian's 1973 sequel to The Eiger Sanction

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