allowance
pronunciation
How to pronounce allowance in British English:
UK [əˈlaʊəns]
How to pronounce allowance in American English:
US [əˈlaʊəns]
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- Noun:
- an amount allowed or granted (as during a given period)
- a sum granted as reimbursement for expenses
- an amount added or deducted on the basis of qualifying circumstances
- a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits
- a reserve fund created by a charge against profits in order to provide for changes in the value of a company's assets
- the act of allowing
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- Verb:
- put on a fixed allowance, as of food
Word Origin
- allowance (n.)
- late 14c., "praise" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French aloance "allowance, granting, allocation," from alouer (see allow). Sense of "a sum alloted to meet expenses" is from c. 1400. In accounts, meaning "a sum placed to one's credit" is attested from 1520s. To make allowances is literally to add or deduct a sum from someone's account for some special circumstance. Figurative use of the phrase is attested from 1670s.
Example
- 1. Create an allowance system that resembles the way companies compensate employees .
- 2. The upshot is no public pension , no unemployment benefit or disability allowance .
- 3. She has sold all her expensive jewellery and collects 50 a week in jobseekers allowance .
- 4. The opposition will urge the dpj to abandon pledges to introduce a child-support allowance and eliminate toll-road fees .
- 5. How wonderful thou art , who sovereignly deposits our allowance to us .