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.
This has already led some factories to cut production, and to rationing of some fuels, including gasoline.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Some have resorted to raising or subsidising fuel prices and rationing electricity.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
Senegal's move is the latest response from the continent to the oil price rise, which has seen countries reducing fuel levies and rationing electricity.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
Asia has been hit particularly hard by high oil prices, with fuel rationing in many countries that are heavily dependent on imports, Sparta’s Goh said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 2, 2026
He poured himself a cup too, dropping in his usual five lumps of sugar as though rationing had never been invented.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
