- 1an amount of money that is given to someone regularly or for a particular purpose an allowance of $20 a day a clothing/living/travel allowance Do you get an allowance for clothing?
- 2the amount of something that is allowed in a particular situation a baggage allowance of 50 pounds Roman soldiers received a salt allowance, called salarium, the origin of the word salary.
- 3a small amount of money that parents give their children, usually every week or every month Idioms
to consider something, for example when you are making a decision or planning something The budget made allowances for inflation. The plan makes no allowance for people working at different rates.
to allow someone to behave in a way that you would not usually accept, because of a problem or because there is a special reason You have to make allowances for him because he's tired.
Check pronunciation: allowance