Meaning & use
allocate
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To officially set aside money, time, or resources for a specific person, group, or purpose.
Grammar: Always takes an object: allocate funds. Often followed by to or for.
Patterns
- allocate something to someone
- allocate something for something
- allocate someone something
The council allocated more money to public transport this year.
Each team was allocated two hours to present its project.
We have allocated a budget for new equipment.
verbtransitive
To assign a person or thing to a particular place, role, or group.
Grammar: Takes an object and often to: allocate students to classes.
Patterns
- allocate someone to something
- allocate something to something
New patients are allocated to a ward on arrival.
Volunteers were allocated tasks according to their skills.
The airline allocated her a window seat.
Word forms
| third person singular | allocates |
|---|---|
| past tense | allocated |
| past participle | allocated |
| -ing form | allocating |
Common combinations
- allocate resources
- The manager must allocate resources carefully.
- allocate funds
- The government allocated funds for flood defenses.
- allocate time
- You should allocate time for revision every evening.
- allocate a task
- She allocated the tasks to her team on Monday.
- allocate a budget
- We allocate a small budget for training.
- fairly allocated
- The seats were fairly allocated by lottery.
Synonyms and how they differ
- assign
- Assign is used more for giving a person a job or role, while allocate is stronger for dividing money or resources.
- distribute
- Distribute means to hand out items among many, whereas allocate means to decide in advance who or what gets a share.
- earmark
- Earmark means to reserve something, especially money, for one specific purpose, so it is narrower than allocate.
- apportion
- Apportion suggests dividing something into shares according to a rule, and it sounds more formal than allocate.
Opposites
Word family
- allocation noun
- a share or the act of sharing out
- allocated adjective
- officially set aside
- reallocate verb
- to allocate again in a new way
- misallocate verb
- to allocate badly or wrongly
Commonly confused: allocate or allot? allocate or locate?
allocate vs allot
Allot is close in meaning but is used for giving a fixed share, like time or portions; allocate fits large budgets and organized planning better.
allocate vs locate
Locate means to find or place something, not to share out resources.
Practice
The school decided to ___ extra funds to the music department.
Choose one answer.
Allocate means to set money aside for a purpose. Locate and relocate are about position, and elevate means to raise.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “allocate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.