Library / English Dictionary

APPORTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Distribute according to a plan or set apart for a special purpose

Example:

I'm allocating the rations for the camping trip

Synonyms:

allocate; apportion

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "apportion" is one way to...):

allot; assign; portion (give out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "apportion"):

reallocate; reapportion (allocate, distribute, or apportion anew)

ration; ration out (distribute in rations, as in the army)

award; present (give, especially as an honor or reward)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

apportionable (capable of being distributed)

apportionment (the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give out as one's portion or share

Synonyms:

apportion; deal; divvy up; portion out; share

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "apportion" is one way to...):

distribute; give out; hand out; pass out (give to several people)

"Apportion" entails doing...:

divide; part; separate (come apart)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

apportionable (capable of being distributed)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Take one day; share it into sections; to each section apportion its task: leave no stray unemployed quarters of an hour, ten minutes, five minutes—include all; do each piece of business in its turn with method, with rigid regularity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)