- present participle of ration.
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.
Residents in the capital, San Juan, where the taps were turned off on Friday, decried the rationing.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
But he found himself rationing the meal swipes, starting the semester conservatively and ending with extras, which he used by inviting his friends to come with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Puerto Rico has begun rationing water across the island amid an intense drought, leaving some residents without supply for 48 hours at a time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón said the rationing measure was implemented after evaluating weather forecasts, conditions of the Carraizo reservoir and climate conditions of the U.S. territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
With war rationing on top of both parents now being out of work, we hadn’t eaten like this for months.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
