entitlements

Cultural  

1. Federal programs, such as Social Security (see also Social Security), Medicare (see also Medicare) and Medicaid, that disburse money according to fixed formulas to citizens who fall into designated categories. Because entitlements do not require annual congressional appropriations, their cost tends to rise steadily and, in the view of some, out of control.

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Example Sentences

That meant that through one's career, we earned entitlements to a decent pension set at a fixed proportion of salary.

From BBC • May 17, 2026

More than half of the calls have been about pay and other contractual entitlements while in the war zone.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

Drivers should make sure they had the right entitlements, were properly trained and took regular breaks, a spokesperson said.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 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

I hav'nt my visitin' cyard with me, but if I had 'em heah you'd find my entitlements, on readin', was somethin' lak this: Miss Maria Conway, of Zion!”

From The Bishop of Cottontown A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills by Moore, John Trotwood