allowance
1 ENTRIES FOUND:
plural
allowances
plural
allowances
Britannica Dictionary definition of ALLOWANCE
1
[count]
a
:
an amount of money that is given to someone regularly or for a specific purpose
-
a monthly allowance for household expenses
-
a clothing allowance
b
chiefly US
:
a small amount of money that is regularly given to children by their parents
-
Each of their children gets a weekly allowance of five dollars.
2
[count]
a
:
an amount of something (such as time) that is allowed or available
-
The schedule provides a generous allowance of time for sightseeing. [=provides a generous amount of time for sightseeing]
b
:
an amount that is regarded as acceptable or desirable
-
the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C
c
:
an amount that is subtracted from the price of something
-
When we bought our new car we got a trade-in allowance of $2,000 on our old car. [=the price of our new car was reduced by $2,000 because we traded in our old car]
d
British
:
an amount of your earnings that you do not have to pay taxes on
-
the tax allowance for married couples
3
a
[noncount]
:
the act of thinking about or including something when you make a plan, calculation, etc.
-
When you're comparing costs from different decades, you need to make allowance for inflation. [=you need to allow for inflation]
-
His theory makes no allowance for [=does not allow for] the possibility that the disease may be genetic.
b
:
the act of regarding bad behavior or a mistake as less serious or bad because of some special situation or condition
[noncount]
-
She performed poorly, but we should make some allowance for her inexperience. = Some allowance should be made for her inexperience. [=because she is inexperienced, we should not blame her too much for performing poorly]
[count]
-
They performed poorly, but allowances should be made for their inexperience.
4
[noncount]
formal
:
the act of allowing something
-
The lawyer protested the judge's allowance of the evidence.
