apportion
Americanverb (used with object)
-
apportions,
present (3rd person singular)
-
apportioned,
past participle, past
-
apportioning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
apportionsimple
-
apportionssimple
-
have apportionedperfect
-
has apportionedperfect
-
am apportioningprogressive
-
are apportioningprogressive
-
is apportioningprogressive
-
have been apportioningperfect progressive
-
has been apportioningperfect progressive
Past
-
apportionedsimple
-
had apportionedperfect
-
was apportioningprogressive
-
were apportioningprogressive
-
had been apportioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of apportion
1565–75; < Middle French apportionner, equivalent to ap- ap- 1 + portionner to portion
Explanation
To apportion is to divide something into shares and hand it out. With 11 guests at your birthday party, it makes sense to cut the cake into 12 slices and apportion one to each — leaving one slice for you! The verb apportion means "allocate" or "divvy up," and it's often used to talk about the way money is distributed. For example, your parents might evenly apportion an allowance to each of their children, or apportion slightly less money to your youngest sibling. In government, power is also apportioned in various ways, as when laws apportion a certain number of congressional representatives to each state.
Vocabulary lists containing apportion
The Legislative Branch, Sections 1–3
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
In the Shadow of Liberty
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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:
She taught them about the matching system and how to apportion their savings to get the most out of it.
From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026
But it’s hard if not impossible to prove that social media caused any given individual’s troubles, let alone apportion liability among the platforms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
The annual assessment, called the point-in-time count, is used to apportion federal dollars and provides a long-term measure of the state of homelessness in America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025
This is because both citizens and noncitizens are counted in the census and this data is then used to apportion seats.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2024
Rationales for still other ways to apportion the money are possible.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
In Washington, a bipartisan commission apportions the congressional and legislative districts.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 20, 2023
Yardbird apportions some dishes as if a crowd is eating.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2021
Valladares calculates his savings might last six months, if he walks everywhere instead of spending three dollars on bus fare and buys frozen chicken drumsticks in bulk and apportions them out weekly.
From Reuters ● Oct. 13, 2020
Where "Doctor Who" apportions crumbs on the way to finally making sense of an episode or an arc, "Class" drops them all at once on the table and tries to mash them into a loaf.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2017
Mqhayi then began to recite his well-known poem in which he apportions the stars in the heavens to the various nations of the world.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
That’s a little more than the entire volume apportioned to Arizona under the plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The blame apportioned to these protests does not sit right with many, even some sections of the Jewish community.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
Because of that distrust, the founders carefully apportioned responsibility over the “militia” — today’s National Guard — between the federal government and the states.
From Salon ● Nov. 17, 2025
It’s the first time in more than four decades that a Washington state politician has apportioned the federal river of money, since the late Sen. Warren Magnuson last chaired the same committee.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2024
So many opportunities in this country are apportioned in this arbitrary and miserly way, distributed to those who already have the benefit of a privileged legacy.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
He shows her ideas taking shape at desks where classifications opened or foreclosed futures, within organizations charged with apportioning the remnants of an inheritance among the living.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
She said it was not about "apportioning blame or fuelling anger, but about establishing the truth".
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
Without apportioning blame, the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, warned of the safety risks of such attacks.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2024
But as the warming climate intensifies the state’s cycles of flood and drought, its system for apportioning water is under strain.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Ernest drew up a preliminary list of first-year grants covering almost every cyclotron in the country save his own, apportioning $10,000 each for Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, and Princeton.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
