Meaning & use
living allowance
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A regular amount of money paid to someone to cover their basic daily expenses, such as food and housing.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a living allowance' or 'living allowances.' It is often used with 'receive,' 'pay,' or 'provide.'
Patterns
- receive a living allowance
- pay someone a living allowance
- a monthly living allowance
The company provides a living allowance for employees working abroad.
Students on the exchange program get a small living allowance to help with rent.
He saved part of his living allowance to buy a laptop.
Word forms
| plural | living allowances |
|---|
Common combinations
- monthly living allowance
- The monthly living allowance is paid on the first day of each month.
- receive a living allowance
- Interns receive a living allowance to cover transport and meals.
- living allowance for students
- The university offers a living allowance for students from low-income families.
- cost-of-living allowance
- Employees in expensive cities may get a cost-of-living allowance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stipend
- A fixed regular sum, often for trainees or clergy; more formal and usually smaller than a salary.
- subsistence allowance
- Specifically covers the minimum needed to live, often used in military or travel contexts.
Word family
- allowance noun
- Money given regularly for a particular purpose.
- living expenses noun
- The costs of everyday life, such as food and rent.
Commonly confused: living allowance or living wage?
living allowance vs living wage
A living wage is the minimum pay needed to live decently, earned from a job. A living allowance is extra money given on top of or instead of wages.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'living allowance' correctly.
Choose one answer.
A living allowance is money given to someone, so 'gives a living allowance' is correct. Option 0 is wrong because you earn a wage or salary, not an allowance, from work. Option 2 reverses the direction: you receive an allowance, you don't pay it. Option 3 has a plural verb with a singular noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “living allowance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.