appropriation

American  

[uh-proh-pree-ey-shuhn] / əˌproʊ priˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

appropriations plural

1. the act of appropriating or taking possession of something, often without permission or consent.

2. anything appropriated for a special purpose, especially money.

3. an act of a legislature authorizing money to be paid from the treasury for a specified use.

4. the money thus authorized.

   a large appropriation for aid to libraries.

---

appropriation British  

/ əˌprəʊprɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of setting apart or taking for one's own use

2. a sum of money set apart for a specific purpose, esp by a legislature

---

appropriation Cultural  

1. The grant of money by a legislature for some specific purpose. The authority to grant appropriations, popularly known as the power of the purse, gives legislatures a powerful check over executive branches and judicial branches, for no public money can be spent without legislative approval. Congress, for example, can approve or reject the annual budget requests of the executive branch for its agencies and programs, thereby influencing both domestic and foreign policy. (See also checks and balances and pork-barrel legislation.)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reappropriation
  noun
• proappropriation
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• appropriations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of appropriation

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French or Late Latin appropriātiōn- (stem of appropriātiō ). See appropriate, -ion

Explanation

Appropriation is the act of taking something, usually without permission, like stealing your brother's french fries when he is momentarily distracted. Appropriation originally referred to the taking of private property, usually by the government. Nowadays, appropriation can be positive or negative, but generally refers to taking something and making it your own — like your appropriation of different musical styles during your talent show performance or your company’s appropriation of new technology to improve their product. Appropriation can also refer to the setting aside of funds by the government for a specific purpose, like for improving school systems or supporting the arts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

appropriation appropriations

The pivot by the 31-year-old artist was especially bold as she had previously been accused of cultural appropriation for recording salsa tunes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

The money comes from the judgment fund, which is a Congress-approved ongoing appropriation that allows the Justice Department to settle cases and make payments.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Mr. Blanche’s two-page memo identifies the $1.776 billion as coming from the Judgment Fund, a permanent appropriation for U.S. settlements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

Italian luxury brand Prada has launched a limited-edition line of sandals inspired by India's traditional Kolhapuri sandals, nearly a year after it faced criticism over cultural appropriation.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

That gave him not only oversight of Fermi’s reactor research at Columbia, for which the committee made a six-month appropriation of $340,000, but also jurisdiction over the spectrograph and plutonium projects at Lawrence’s Rad Lab.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

It is expected to be heard in the Senate’s appropriations committee next month.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

With few exceptions, the limit applies to most appropriations of tax revenue, including when lawmakers put money away in the rainy day fund and other reserves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026

“What you really get as appropriations chair is hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks,” a fellow congressional appropriator told me, “not what everybody else gets.”

From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026

And there was an incident this week while McConnell was chairing his defense appropriations subcommittee hearing.

From Slate ● May 16, 2026

He was chair of the appropriations committee in the Utah House of Representatives, where he’d been first elected in 2000.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

Related Words

• allotment
• allowance
• donation
• funding
• grant
• provision
• stipend
• subsidy