dispensation
noun
Simple meaning
That which is bestowed on someone.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihspuhnsayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪspənˈseɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of dispensing (giving out in portions)
The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution
That which is dispensed, dealt out, or given; that which is bestowed on someone
The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; exemption.
The distribution of good and evil by God to man.
A system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; scheme; economy
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of dispensing (giving out in portions)
Used this way, dispensation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A container so designed that the contents can be used in prescribed amounts.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.