allocation
Americannoun
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the act of allocating; apportionment.
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the state of being allocated.
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the share or portion allocated.
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Accounting. a system of dividing expenses and incomes among the various branches, departments, etc., of a business.
noun
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the act of allocating or the state of being allocated
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a part that is allocated; share
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accounting a system of dividing overhead expenses between the various departments of a business
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social welfare (in a Social Services Department) the process of assigning referrals to individual workers, thus changing their status to cases
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing allocation
Dwight D. Eisenhower, "The Military-Industrial Complex" (1961)
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The Martian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Biglari cited Cracker Barrel’s “poor capital allocation record” and said that its transformation plan didn’t boost investor confidence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
That history is why contesting the constitutional allocation of public safety cannot mean giving private people authority to govern vulnerable people.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Based on reports I saw, many investors received only a small percentage of their requested allocation.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026
To compound matters, the wheelchair accessible allocation was on the opposite side of the ground to the away section, leaving Jones isolated.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
None had their complete allocation of walls and ceilings.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
The underwriters are offering 177.9 million new shares and pricing will be announced later on Thursday with allocations given later in the day.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
The asset manager is slightly overweight to Japan in its allocations, partly because the yen is at a 40-year low.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
But the fund also has sizable allocations to the industrial and consumer discretionary sectors, with 30% of its assets in those two sectors.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
About half of participants choose to stay in the company plan, and their allocations continue on.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
During that same period, DEA antidrug spending grew from $86 to $1,026 million, and FBI antidrug allocations grew from $38 to $181 million.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
