allotted

American

[uh-lot-id] / əˈlɒt ɪd /

adjective

assigned as a portion to some person or group or for some purpose.

The allotted time for this task is 25 minutes.
divided or distributed by share or portion; parceled out.

Many students have complained about the poorly allotted parking spaces at the university.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of allot.

Other Word Forms

unallotted adjective
well-allotted adjective

Etymology

Origin of allotted

allot ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Allotted means given as a share of something. Hopefully you will be happy with your allotted share of candy on Halloween. Something that's allotted is distributed, or shared, like your allotted number of pizza slices. It can also mean your share of a job; on family clean-up day, your allotted task could be taking out the garbage. The Germanic word loter, "lot" or "share," is at the root of allotted. A plus loter form the Old French aloter, "to divide into lots." When you're spelling allotted remember to double up the ls and the ts.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing allotted

Bridge to Terabithia

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George Washington's First Inaugural Address

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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.

Pheu Thai was allotted nine minister jobs, including agriculture, labour, education and social development.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

One undisputed example of contracts that went awry is $6 million allotted to AllHere, a tech startup that was hired to design an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot for L.A.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

"We wrote up this agreement about screen time with his school counsellors, what he had to get accomplished in order to get an allotted amount of screen time," Ping said.

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

In the lab, each person attempted to solve a series of brain teaser puzzles, with three minutes allotted per puzzle.

From Science Daily • Feb. 15, 2026

I know not how she occupied herself before breakfast, but after that meal she divided her time into regular portions, and each hour had its allotted task.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023