Sanction

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

Other uses

 * Sanctions, a mechanism of social control