apportion

English

Etymology

Middle French apportionner, from Old French aporcioner, from Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. See portion.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /əˈpɔːʃən/, X-SAMPA: /@"pO:S@n/
• (GenAm) IPA: /əˈpɔɹʃən/, X-SAMPA: /@"pOrS@n/

  Rhymes: -ɔː(r)ʃən

Verb

apportion (third-person singular simple present apportions, present participle apportioning, simple past and past participle apportioned)

1. (transitive) To divide and distribute portions of a whole.

   The controlling party had apportioned the voting districts such that their party would be favored in the next election.

2. (transitive) Specifically, to do so in a fair and equitable manner; to allocate proportionally.

   The children were required to dump all of their Halloween candy on the table so that their parents could apportion it among them.

Derived terms

• unapportioned

Synonyms

• (divide and distribute): allocate, allot, dispense, parcel out, share out

Antonyms

• (divide and distribute): amass, concentrate, consolidate, gather, reassemble

Translations

to divide and distribute portions of a whole

• Bulgarian: разпределям (bg) (razpredeljam)
• Finnish: jakaa (fi), annostella (fi)
• Romanian: împărți (ro)

• Russian: делить (ru) (delitʹ), разделять (ru) (razdeljatʹ), распределять (ru) (raspredeljatʹ)
• Spanish: distribuir (es), repartir (es)

to allocate proportionally

• Bulgarian: разделям (bg) (razdeljam)

• Finnish: jakaa (fi), tasata (fi)