A lesbian, Amanda Booker, is suing the Bartow (Georgia) County Sheriff’s Department and others after she alleges her constitutional rights were violated when she was taken to a private residence for ex-gay conversion therapy rather than to a court-mandated psychiatric hospital for her drug abuse.

Not so different in US English — the verb “to sanction” pretty much always means “to give or show approval; to validate.” But the noun “sanction” can mean either “approval; validation” or “punishment; disapproval,” depending on sentence context.

I’m not one to disapprove of a lesson in proper grammar (or word usage), but isn’t this basically what Richard said above? Even though one of your noun examples was used in the negative, it seems to illustrate that the word sanction, at least as a noun, is used more to illustrate a “punishment” of sorts than it is to show approval. I’ll have to look into this more. 🙂

Not so different in US English — the verb “to sanction” pretty much always means “to give or show approval; to validate.” But the noun “sanction” can mean either “approval; validation” or “punishment; disapproval,” depending on sentence context.

I’m not one to disapprove of a lesson in proper grammar (or word usage), but isn’t this basically what Richard said above? Even though one of your noun examples was used in the negative, it seems to illustrate that the word sanction, at least as a noun, is used more to illustrate a “punishment” of sorts than it is to show approval. I’ll have to look into this more. 🙂

Well, Lynn, it shows the often strange nature of ‘English’ English (American English is more ‘standardised’): the verb ‘to sanction’ means ‘to validate’, while the noun ‘sanction’ means ‘punishment’!

Not so different in US English — the verb “to sanction” pretty much always means “to give or show approval; to validate.” But the noun “sanction” can mean either “approval; validation” or “punishment; disapproval,” depending on sentence context.
Examples:
(1) The Vatican representative said, “We will not sanction [verb] same-sex marriage.” (= We won’t approve it)
(2) The Vatican representative said, “We will not give sanction [noun] to same-sex marriage.” (= We won’t approve it)
(3) The Vatican representative said, “We are prepared to issue sanctions [noun] against priests who perform same-sex union ceremonies.” (= We will show disapproval of it.)
Although “sanction” is a noun in both the second and third sentences, the preposition “against” in #3 makes it clear that the noun is intended to mean “disapproval” rather than “approval.” Meanwhile, #1 and #2 are synonymous even though the first uses “sanction” as a verb and the second as a noun.

Well, Lynn, it shows the often strange nature of ‘English’ English (American English is more ‘standardised’): the verb ‘to sanction’ means ‘to validate’, while the noun ‘sanction’ means ‘punishment’!

Not so different in US English — the verb “to sanction” pretty much always means “to give or show approval; to validate.” But the noun “sanction” can mean either “approval; validation” or “punishment; disapproval,” depending on sentence context.
Examples:
(1) The Vatican representative said, “We will not sanction [verb] same-sex marriage.” (= We won’t approve it)
(2) The Vatican representative said, “We will not give sanction [noun] to same-sex marriage.” (= We won’t approve it)
(3) The Vatican representative said, “We are prepared to issue sanctions [noun] against priests who perform same-sex union ceremonies.” (= We will show disapproval of it.)
Although “sanction” is a noun in both the second and third sentences, the preposition “against” in #3 makes it clear that the noun is intended to mean “disapproval” rather than “approval.” Meanwhile, #1 and #2 are synonymous even though the first uses “sanction” as a verb and the second as a noun.