rubber stamping
Unquestioning official endorsement
Rubber stamping is approving something automatically, without genuine scrutiny or deliberation.
The image comes from bureaucratic stamps that mark documents as approved—the rubber stamp requires no thought, just a mechanical motion.
A committee accused of rubber stamping decisions is failing to exercise independent judgment: The board was just rubber stamping whatever management proposed.
Rubber stamping also refers to the craft hobby of using decorative rubber stamps to create patterns on paper.
- handstampManual impression device
- validationConfirming truth or accuracy
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- approvalFavorable opinion given
- confirmationEstablishing something as true
authorization · endorsement · authentication · official seal · verification · perfunctory · going through motions · accreditation · sanction · consent · embossing · die-cutting · formality · red tape · imprinting · marking · bureaucracy · papercraft
- bureaucracybureaucracy, bureaucrat, bureaucrats, red tape, civil service
- craftssewing, knitting, painting, glue, scissors
- approvalsapproved, approve, authorizing, certification, endorsing
- boring methodspaperwork, data entry, filing, form filling, busywork
- papercraftscrapbooking, cardmaking, albums, cards, stickers
- busyworkbusywork, make-work, grunt work, drudgery, tedium
rubber stampingdue diligence
Pre-transaction reasonable care
critical analysis · vetting · independent review · fact-checking · auditing
rubber, stamp, stamping, stamps, stamped, rubbery, rubberize, rubberized, rubbers