sanction

This is one of those gloriously sneaky words that can mean both “blessing” and “punishment” without changing its clothes. In Roman legal and religious life, a sanctiō was a decree that carried sacred force — the sort of thing you broke at your peril, because law and holiness were thoroughly tangled together. That’s why sanction can still mean either official approval or a penalty: both are ways an authority makes something stick. It shares that stern, incense-scented family with saint, sacred, sanctify, and the especially intimidating sacrosanct. So if a government “sanctions” a policy, it may be giving a blessing — or preparing the thumbscrew — and the word has never stopped enjoying that ambiguity.