allocation

American  

[al-uh-key-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

To manage this allocation, Holmes uses actively managed bond ETFs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

The fate of a franchise depends on cramming them into a vast, complex puzzle of resource allocation that’s harder to navigate than a swimming pool in a straitjacket.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

But the match allocation has once again come into focus after the schedule for next year's series was confirmed in July.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Open Cup, before being sent west for $1 million in allocation money last December.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

However, World Bank members, who came from many countries to meet in Moscow, were divided about the allocation.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

StubHub said tickets can legitimately enter the secondary market early through presales or authorized partner allocations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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

Ares’s alternative credit strategy focuses on asset-based finance, a fast-growing area of private credit that has attracted sizable capital allocations from investors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

No formal change to GPIF’s target asset allocations has been announced.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Shift schedules, fund allocations, project juggling, out-and-out looting of other projects . . . he'd never pulled so many stunts in his life.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Related Words

• allotment
• appropriation
• quota
• share