gutheißen

Gutheißen is a German verb that means to approve or endorse something, to deem it acceptable or desirable. It is used to express official or formal support for a proposal, decision, action, or measure, and is common in political, administrative, and corporate language.

The verb is typically transitive, taking a direct object such as eine Maßnahme, einen Antrag, eine Entscheidung or ähnliche noun phrases. It can also introduce a clause, as in Es ist gutzuheißen, dass …, meaning that it is acceptable or proper that … In everyday formal writing, you will often see sentences like Die Regierung hat den Vorschlag gutgeheißen or Der Aufsichtsrat hat die Fusion gutgeheißen.

Grammatically, gutheißen is conjugated like a regular verb: ich gutheiße, du gutheißt, er gutheißt, wir gutheißen, ihr gutheißt, sie gutheißen. The past participle is gutgeheißen and is used with haben in the perfect tense, e.g., Die Entscheidung hat gutgeheißen; Die Pläne wurden gutgeheißen. The term is more formal and official in tone than synonyms such as billigen or genehmigen, and it often carries a sense of favorable but not enthusiastic endorsement.

Etymologically, gutheißen comes from gut (good) and heißen (to be called or named), conveying the sense of declaring something as good or acceptable. It is primarily used to denote approval by authorities, institutions, or decision-makers, and is less commonly used in casual speech.