laissez-passer

laissez-passer — noun

1. an official paper that lets a person travel across borders or enter a place wher

1.nounC2
Definition

an official paper that lets a person travel across borders or enter a place where they would normally need a regular passport or visa, often issued by a government or an international body such as the United Nations.

Example

The United Nations issued Eitan a laissez-passer so he could fly into the war zone as a relief worker.

issue + a laissez-passer for official travel without a national passport

Élise carried a Vatican laissez-passer that allowed her to cross several borders without a standard visa.

carry + a laissez-passer issued by a non-state authority

Common collocations
  • UN laissez-passer
  • diplomatic laissez-passer
  • issue a laissez-passer
  • hold a laissez-passer
Synonyms
  • travel document

    broader everyday term covering any official paper used for travel, including passports and visas

  • safe-conduct

    older term, often used in wartime for guaranteed safe passage rather than routine travel

  • permit

    more general; a permit may cover activities beyond travel, while laissez-passer is specifically about movement

Grammar Patterns

a laissez-passer for [destination/purpose]

issue/grant a laissez-passer

Usage Note

Almost always singular and countable, often modified by the issuing body (a UN laissez-passer, a Vatican laissez-passer). Treat as a French loan: keep the hyphen and the French spelling, and do not pluralise by adding -s in formal writing — the French plural laissez-passer is invariable.

Common Mistakes

I bought a laissez-passer at the airport.
The embassy issued me a laissez-passer.
a laissez-passer is granted by an official authority, not purchased.
She showed two laissez-passers.
She showed two laissez-passer.
in French the plural is invariable; many style guides keep the form unchanged in English too.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A passport is the standard national identity-and-travel booklet issued by your own government, while a visa is a stamp or sticker added to a passport that lets you enter a particular country. A laissez-passer sits outside that pair: it is given to people who cannot use a regular passport — UN staff, stateless people, or someone whose passport has been lost or destroyed — and it travels with the holder as a one-off or short-term substitute. Safe-conduct is an older, narrower term, usually tied to wartime or hostile territory, where a named authority promises that the bearer will not be harmed or detained. Travel document is the broad umbrella covering all of the above. In practice, you apply for a visa, you carry a passport, but you are issued a laissez-passer.

passport ↗visa ↗safe-conducttravel document

Common collocations

Nouns

  • UN laissez-passer
  • diplomatic laissez-passer
  • emergency laissez-passer

Phrases

  • issue a laissez-passer
  • hold a laissez-passer
  • apply for a laissez-passer
  • present a laissez-passer

Prepositions

  • a laissez-passer for [country/journey]
  • travel on a laissez-passer

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchFrenchEnglish

Borrowed unchanged from French, where laissez-passer literally means 'let pass' — laissez is the imperative 'let' (from Latin laxare 'to loosen, release') and passer is 'to pass'. The phrase entered English in the early 19th century, originally as an order written on a document by an official telling guards or border officers to let the bearer through. Over time the order itself came to name the document.