rationing
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The U.S. government has engaged in rationing usually only under conditions of extreme shortage or economic hardship; certain resources were rationed, for example, during World War II.
Explanation
Rationing is carefully controlling the amount of something that people use. During World War Two, Americans participated in the rationing of food, gasoline, and other materials. When something is in short supply, like rubber and metal during the Second World War, a government will often institute rationing to save that material, making sure there's enough of it for emergencies. Rationing during the war meant that people had a specific amount of food they could buy each week, and once an item was used up, they had to wait until they got a new ration book to buy more. Ration means "hand out in fixed amounts."
Vocabulary lists containing rationing
World War I
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World War II
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Economics
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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.
Strikes on its energy infrastructure had already led to rationing of motor fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
And many more countries are seeing reductions in gas consumption, he said, either through rationing or by encouraging students and employees to work remotely.
From MarketWatch • May 1, 2026
Oil prices more than doubled, there was fuel rationing, and the significant knock-on effects were compounded by a second oil shock in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
A number of AI companies including Anthropic have faced a capacity crunch for computing in recent weeks, leading to price increases for access to AI processors, outages and rationing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
It was a meal they couldn't have eaten in Nazi Germany with the strict food rationing and meat shortages.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
