allowance
Americannoun
-
allowances
plural
-
the act of allowing.
-
an amount or share allotted or granted.
- Synonyms:
- allotment
-
a sum of money allotted or granted for a particular purpose, as for expenses.
Her allowance for the business trip was $200.
-
a sum of money allotted or granted to a person on a regular basis, as for personal or general living expenses.
The art student lived on an allowance of $600 a month.
When I was in first grade, my parents gave me an allowance of seven dollars a week.
- Synonyms:
- stipend
-
an addition or deduction based on an extenuating or qualifying circumstance.
an allowance for profit;
an allowance for depreciation.
-
acknowledgment; concession.
the allowance of a claim.
-
passive permission resulting from lack of interference; toleration.
the allowance of slavery.
- Synonyms:
- sufferance, permission, acceptance
- Antonyms:
- proscription, prohibition, interdiction
-
Machinery. a prescribed difference in dimensions of two closely fitting mating parts with regard to minimum clearance or maximum interference.
-
Coining. tolerance.
verb (used with object)
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to place on a fixed allowance, as of food or drink.
-
to allocate (supplies, rations, etc.) in fixed or regular amounts.
idioms
noun
-
an amount of something, esp money or food, given or allotted usually at regular intervals
-
a discount, as in consideration for something given in part exchange or to increase business; rebate
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(in Britain) an amount of a person's income that is not subject to a particular tax and is therefore deducted before his or her liability to taxation is assessed
-
a portion set aside to compensate for something or to cover special expenses
-
education a salary supplement given to a teacher who is appointed to undertake extra duties and responsibilities
-
admission; concession
-
the act of allowing; sanction; toleration
-
something allowed
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(usually foll by for)
-
to take mitigating circumstances into account in consideration (of)
-
to allow (for)
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of allowance
1350–1400; Middle English alouance < Middle French. See allow, -ance
Explanation
When you're a kid, you might earn an allowance or a sum of money in exchange for doing chores around the house. Your parents' allowance — or tolerance — of your silly behavior will depend on how strict they are. An allowance is a quantity of something that's allowed or permitted within a set of rules or for a particular purpose. This could be a weekly allowance you earn as a kid, or it could be the allowance for passengers on a flight to have two carry-on items. To make allowances for someone means to treat someone leniently, or to give them a break.
Vocabulary lists containing allowance
Christopher Columbus' Diary: The First Voyage
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 16
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Shiloh
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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:
He and Puyi spoke of studying at Oxford, an idea that the emperor raised in the summer of 1922 with the Imperial Household Department, the residual Qing bureaucracy that controlled Puyi’s allowance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
I spent a lot of birthday money and allowance buying small chess sets, Spaulding balls and malteds at these establishments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Before the financial crisis the personal allowance was much smaller than today, and it was allowed to grow until the pandemic hit.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
If the personal allowance had risen with inflation over the last five years, you would now be able to take home the first £16,070 of your pay without paying any income tax.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
Roan was one of the full-bloods whose financial allowance had been officially curtailed, and he had often asked Hale to advance him cash.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
It also recommended an equivalent increase in the allowances available to employers for accommodation and meals provided to employees earning the main minimum wage rate, which Millar said she accepted.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Lower prices or more generous usage allowances need to translate into durable business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Lecornu has said the draft law, first presented before the protests, would allow these sums to be "taken from family allowances and housing benefits, while ensuring a minimum income is preserved".
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Among Russell 3000 companies, the number of businesses reporting the same security allowances similarly rose, in this case from 7% in 2025 to 11%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Within a few minutes, some of us had more money than we had been able to accumulate in a year of cottage allowances.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
The first album I ever bought with my own money, allowanced saved up for weeks, was “Long Hard Climb.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2020
I’m allowanced by the doctor even in the matter o’ tea and coffee,” said the sergeant.
From Blue Lights Hot Work in the Soudan by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
Then don't you ever go and say you were allowanced, mind that.'
From The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
Onct a week dey would come and dey allowanced 'em out pervisions.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4 by United States. Work Projects Administration
The poor dog, thus allowanced, must have been sorry that he ever joined us.
From Adventures of a Young Naturalist by Parker Gillmore
The Germans had been allowancing Recicourt to nine a day.
From The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me by William Allen White
And when the larger wood begins to grow scarce, what course does the peasant adopt?—The allowancing of individuals.
From The Place of Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution An Address Delivered in Paris by Henry Glasse
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
