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Synonyms

make allowance for

Idioms  

  1. Also, make allowances for. Take into account extenuating circumstances, as in We have to make allowance for Jeff; he's very new to the business, or Grandma is always making allowances for the children's bad manners. [c. 1700]

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.

"The welfare of the men is a priority, they will need time and support, and we hope and trust our media and community will make allowance for this."

From BBC • Dec. 15, 2024

Alas, my plan to sort and cull my thousands of books — described last week in my Zippy Shell column — failed to make allowance for human nature.

From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2020

Hutton believes, plausibly enough, that popular notions of fairness do make allowance for luck.

From The Guardian • Sep. 24, 2010

Their more elaborate brains make allowance for the position of the eyes and keep the world from slanting whenever the eyes slant.

From Time Magazine Archive

MacLeod reflected, with fury rising like flame from the steady glow of his contemptuous resentment at this old recalcitrant, that Pulaski Britt would never make allowance for failure under these circumstances.

From King Spruce, A Novel by Day, Holman

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.