We are delighted that Kendal and Ford (2017) were moved to comment on the use of the term social license with respect to conservation as we (Zander et al. 2014; Garnett et al. 2016; 2017) and others (Spies et al. 2010; Hobday et al. 2015; Buckley 2016; Latham et al. 2017) have used it. We of course agree that social license may not always be a useful concept with which to describe the relationship between conservation and the community and that there is a need for “trusting, ongoing relationships with the . . . community.” However, we question their suggestion that social acceptance might be more appropriate than social license when seeking community support for conservation programs. We maintain there is a role for both terms—indeed there may be a sequence in which they are applied.