allocate

[al-uh-keyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR allocate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), al·lo·cat·ed, al·lo·cat·ing.

to set apart for a particular purpose; assign or allot: to allocate funds for new projects.

to fix the place of; locate.

Origin of allocate

1630–40; < Medieval Latin allocātus (past participle of allocāre), equivalent to al- al- + loc(us) place + -ātus -ate¹

Related formsal·lo·ca·tor, nounde·al·lo·cate, verb (used with object), de·al·lo·cat·ed, de·al·lo·cat·ing.re·al·lo·cate, verb (used with object), re·al·lo·cat·ed, re·al·lo·cat·ing.un·al·lo·cat·ed, adjective

Synonym study

1. See assign.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for allocated

earmark, apportion, give, appropriate, allot, designate, admeasure, cut, share, slice, budget, mete, divvy

Examples from the Web for allocated

Contemporary Examples of allocated

All the slots for arrivals and departures are allocated months in advance.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501
Clive Irving
January 6, 2015
More than 40,000 regular police from a force already stretched by the protests have been allocated to mind the event.
Pope Francis’s Trip to Rio: The Security Challenge
Barbie Latza Nadeau
June 22, 2013
Yet resources will also be allocated to some new writers and even some smaller books—because they have to be.
Why Random and Penguin Must Merge—And When They Almost Did
Gayle Feldman
November 9, 2012
The CBO predicted that about 400,000 people would enroll, rapidly depleting the $5 billion that had been allocated.
The Non-Problem that ObamaCare Didn't Fix
Megan McArdle
September 19, 2012
The U.S. military had not established any prisoner of war protocols or allocated resources to handle the captured enemy.
The First American: Excerpt from Henry Crumpton’s ‘The Art of Intelligence’
Henry A. Crumpton
May 14, 2012

Historical Examples of allocated

So you put Arthur into the living, and you allocated the income to me.
The Bertrams
Anthony Trollope
Pete allocated Aunt Caroline according to his idea of where she would do the most good.
Good References
E. J. Rath
Nor can these new expenses be allocated to the new business alone.
Railroads: Rates and Regulations
William Z. Ripley
Resources were allocated within it with reasonable efficiency.
After the Rain
Sam Vaknin
Developing countries were allocated the role of extending their growth.
After the Rain
Sam Vaknin

British Dictionary definitions for allocated

allocate

verb (tr)

to assign or allot for a particular purpose

a less common word for locate (def. 2)

Derived Formsallocatable, adjective

Word Origin for allocate

C17: from Medieval Latin allocāre, from Latin locāre to place, from locus a place

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for allocated

allocate

1630s, from verbal used of adjective allocate (mid-15c. in legal use), from Medieval Latin allocate (the common first word of writs authorizing payment), imperative plural of allocare "allocate," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + locare "to place" (see locate). Related: Allocated; allocating.