entitlement
Americannoun
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entitlements
plural
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the act of giving, or the state of having, a title, right, or claim to something.
She supported legislation to improve the lot of the elderly, including the entitlement of senior citizens to vote by absentee ballot.
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a provision, amount, etc., to which one is entitled; a right.
A good education is the moral entitlement of every child.
Temporary teachers receive most of the entitlements of permanent teachers, including annual salary, on a prorated basis.
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a government program, such as Social Security or unemployment insurance, that provides a benefit to eligible participants, or the benefit provided by such a program.
Eligibility for this insurance program will be affected if there is also a Medicare entitlement.
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the unjustified assumption that one has a right to certain advantages, preferential treatment, etc..
"Their sense of entitlement—I don't want to call it arrogance—makes dealing with some people difficult,'' said the senator.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of entitlement
Explanation
An entitlement is the right to a particular privilege or benefit, granted by law or custom. You have a legal entitlement to speak to a lawyer if you're ever arrested and put in jail. Your entitlement program at work might offer various benefits, or you might receive a medical entitlement once you reach a certain age. These are just basic things you get. More recently, entitlement has taken on a critical sense. If someone has a sense of entitlement, that means the person believes he deserves certain privileges — and he's arrogant about it. The term "culture of entitlement" suggests that many people now have highly unreasonable expectations about what they are entitled to.
Vocabulary lists containing entitlement
A Word's-Eye View of the Primetime GOP Debate (Aug. 6, 2015)
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Top Ten Most Relevant Words from the Third Republican Debate, October 28, 2015
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U.S. Government - Middle School and High School
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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:
Jenrick estimates after assessments of people already claiming, 2.16 million will keep their cash entitlement in full, while 2.89 million will see it modified or withdrawn.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Breaking that link would “fundamentally change the nature of the program,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
The difference shapes whether you see success as an entitlement or as yours to create.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
But the DNA of the Barbary wars exists throughout American military history, a cocktail of entitlement, bravado and hypocrisy flavored with desperate violence.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
When he returned home, he resumed college at Temple University and then went through its law school, with every penny of his higher education paid by that great entitlement program called the GI Bill.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Clubs losing youngsters can receive training compensation alongside future appearance-related payments and sell-on entitlements, while unresolved cases can be referred to the Professional Football Compensation Committee.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The bureau on Friday set an upper limit for how much water it can cut from the entitlements of the downstream states in the coming years: 3 million acre-feet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The panel has called on leaders to provide extra support for single-parent families, such as more paid leave; and to consider extending existing leave entitlements to grandparents and other family members who take care-giving roles.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
Any security mitigation, however, will bump up against the fact that those entitlements are what make agents so useful in the first place.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
Mark Hargrave was president of the Tecumseh Agricultural and Classical University, to give it its full legal entitlements.
From The Second Generation by David Graham Phillips
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.
