allocation

American  

[al-uh-kay-shuhn] / ˌæl əˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

• allocations
  plural

1. the act of allocating; apportionment.

2. the state of being allocated.

3. the share or portion allocated.

4. Accounting. a system of dividing expenses and incomes among the various branches, departments, etc., of a business.

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allocation British  

/ ˌæləˈkeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of allocating or the state of being allocated

2. a part that is allocated; share

3. accounting a system of dividing overhead expenses between the various departments of a business

4. social welfare (in a Social Services Department) the process of assigning referrals to individual workers, thus changing their status to cases

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• deallocation
  noun
• reallocation
  noun
• suballocation
  noun
• allocative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• allocations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of allocation

First recorded in 1525–35; from Medieval Latin allocātiōn- (stem of allocātiō ), equivalent to allocāt(us) ( see allocate) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

If it is your job to decide how much money goes to three charities, you are in charge of the allocation of your donation. The money each charity gets is their allocation. You'll often hear this word used when talking about things like government funding. People often debate the allocation of federal funds. Should tax dollars be used for the military, or for domestic needs like education and healthcare? These decisions are made by Congress and the President, who work together to create a budget to allocate funds appropriately.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

allocation allocations

He suggested investors maintain an allocation of between 5% and 15% to gold as part of a “balanced” portfolio, as that asset is hard money and a diversifier amid rising debt levels.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

But it still needs final security clearances and spectrum allocation before it can begin commercial services.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

For younger adults, a 5% to 20% target allocation to bonds is probably the right amount, she added, given that the majority still should probably be in equities, given their longer-term investment horizons.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

In an interview, Ellison said the structure will give him the “opportunity to be able to focus on the creative, on the technology, capital allocation and overall strategic vision of the company.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Maddie’s egg allocation amounted to one per week.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

The March cup meeting was the first time Celtic supporters have been given the full Broomloan Road Stand allocation at Ibrox since away allocations were reduced to fewer than 1,000 in 2018.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The accounting rules give companies one year to adjust their purchase-price allocations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

In his role, Hilliard was in charge of managing employee product benefit allocations from the Nike Elite program.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

However, customers that do have access to Nvidia’s allocations, or that can scale custom silicon projects, “stand to benefit disproportionately,” he added.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Department of Defense antidrug allocations increased from $33 million in 1981 to $1,042 million in 1991.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• allotment
• appropriation
• quota
• share