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allow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
allow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
allow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
allow you have here. The definition of the word
allow will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
allow, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudāre, present active infinitive of allaudō, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocō (“to assign”). Doublet of allaud (via allaudāre) or allocate (via allocāre).
The similarity with Middle English alyfen (from Old English ālīefan) and German erlauben, both from Proto-Germanic *uzlaubijaną (“to allow”) is coincidental.
Pronunciation
Verb
allow (third-person singular simple present allows, present participle allowing, simple past and past participle allowed)
- (ditransitive) To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.
to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest
2004 [1895], Constance, transl. Garnett, “Ariadne”, in The Darling: and Other Stories, translation of original by Anton Chekhov:[…] he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.
- (transitive, catenative) To enable; to permit; to grant license to; to consent to.
I will allow my son to be absent.
1992, Rudolf M Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
- To not bar or obstruct.
Although I don't consent to their holding such meetings, I will allow them for the time being.
Smoking allowed only in designated areas.
2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
- (transitive) To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow an appeal to allow the truth of a proposition
1815, Jane Austen, chapter 5, in Emma, volume 1:Mr. Knightley, I shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case.
2000, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam, published 2011, page 154:Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
- (transitive) To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
To allow a sum for leakage.
- (transitive) To take into account by making an allowance.
When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
- (transitive) To render physically possible.
2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
- (transitive, obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
1842, Thomas Fuller, Church History of Britain:We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
- (obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
1623, William Shakespeare, The Life of Timon of Athens:Therefore so please thee to return with us,
And of our Athens—thine and ours—to take
The captainship, thou shalt be met with thanks,
Allow'd with absolute power, and thy good name
Live with authority. So soon we shall drive back
Of Alcibiades the approaches wild,
Who, like a boar too savage, doth root up
His country's peace.
- (transitive, obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.
- (law, transitive) To decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request).
- To allow an objection, to find in favour of the objection and forbid the conduct objected to; to allow an appeal, to decide the appeal in favour of the appellant (contrast grant leave to appeal, to permit an appeal to be heard).
- (transitive, MTE, MLE) To forgo bothering with, to let slide.
2021 November 3, “Who's My man?”, Starzzy #MostHated (lyrics), 0:30:Easy on violence, now I doubt it
I could’ve banged this face but allowed it
Conjugation
Synonyms
- (let have): grant, admit, afford, yield, give, permit, allot, bestow, concede
- (grant license): permit, consent, let, concede
- (not bar or obstruct): tolerate, suffer, permit, admit, concede
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have
- Afrikaans: toelaat (af)
- Arabic: سَمَحَ (ar) (samaḥa), أَذِنَ (ʔaḏina)
- Armenian: թողնել (hy) (tʻoġnel), թույլ տալ (tʻuyl tal), թույլատրել (hy) (tʻuylatrel)
- Aromanian: alas, las
- Asturian: dexar (ast)
- Belarusian: дазваля́ць impf (dazvaljácʹ), дазво́ліць pf (dazvólicʹ)
- Bikol Central: tugot (bcl)
- Bulgarian: позволя́вам (bg) impf (pozvoljávam), дава́м (bg) impf (davám)
- Catalan: deixar (ca)
- Cebuano: tugot
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 讓/让 (zh) (ràng), 允許/允许 (zh) (yǔnxǔ)
- Czech: dovolovat impf, dovolit (cs) pf, povolovat impf, povolit (cs) pf
- Danish: tillade (da)
- Dutch: toelaten (nl), toestaan (nl), (please verify) laten doen
- Estonian: lubama
- Faroese: loyva
- Finnish: sallia (fi), myöntää (fi)
- French: laisser (fr), accorder (fr), accorder (fr)
- Friulian: lassâ
- Galician: deixar (gl)
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: erlauben (de), zulassen (de)
- Greek: παραχωρώ (el) (parachoró), χορηγώ (el) (chorigó), παρέχω (el) (parécho)
- Ancient: ἐάω (eáō), δῐ́δωμῐ (dídōmi) (in the perfect active δέδωκα)
- Hebrew: הרשה (hirshá), התיר (he) (hitír), אישר (he) (ishér)
- Hiligaynon: tugot, pagtugot
- Hindi: इजाज़त देना (ijāzat denā)
- Hungarian: enged (hu)
- Ido: grantar (io)
- Italian: lasciare (it), permettere (it)
- Japanese: 許す (ja) (ゆるす, yurusu)
- Khmer: អនុញ្ញាត (km) (ʼaʼnuññaat)
- Korean: 허락하다 (ko) (heorakhada)
- Ladin: lascer
- Lao: ອະນຸຍາດ (ʼa nu nyāt), ໃຫ້ (hai), ຍອມ (nyǭm)
- Latgalian: ļaut
- Latin: sinō (la), condōnō
- Latvian: ļaut
- Macedonian: дозволува impf (dozvoluva), дозволи pf (dozvoli)
- Maguindanao: sugut
- Malay: membenarkan
- Malayalam: അനുവദിക്കുക (ml) (anuvadikkuka), സമ്മതിക്കുക (ml) (sammatikkuka)
- Maori: tuku
- Maranao: sogot
- Mbyá Guaraní: eja
- Norwegian: tillate (no)
- Old English: ālīefan
- Persian: اجازه دادن (fa) (ejâze dâdan)
- Polish: pozwalać (pl) impf, pozwolić (pl) pf
- Portuguese: deixar (pt), permitir (pt)
- Romanian: lăsa (ro), acorda (ro), permite (ro), admite (ro)
- Russian: позволя́ть (ru) impf (pozvoljátʹ), позво́лить (ru) pf (pozvólitʹ), разреша́ть (ru) impf (razrešátʹ), разреши́ть (ru) pf (razrešítʹ)
- Sardinian: lassare, lassai
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: дозволити pf
- Roman: dozvoliti (sh) pf
- Sicilian: lassari (scn)
- Slovak: dovoliť pf, povoliť pf
- Slovene: dovoliti
- Somali: ogolaasho
- Spanish: dejar (es), permitir (es), conceder (es)
- Swahili: -ruhusu, -kubalia
- Tajik: иҷозат додан (ijozat dodan)
- Thai: อนุญาต (th) (à-nú-yâat), ให้ (th) (hâi), ยอม (th) (yɔɔm)
- Tocharian B: tärk-
- Tok Pisin: larim
- Ukrainian: дозволя́ти impf (dozvoljáty), дозво́лити pf (dozvólyty)
- Urdu: اجازت دینا (ur) (ijāzat denā)
- Venetian: lasar (vec)
- Vietnamese: cho phép (vi)
- Walloon: leyî (wa), laire (wa)
- Welsh: caniatáu (cy)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: tuɣut
- Zazaki: icazet dayen
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to acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion
to take into account as a deduction or an addition
to permit
- Afrikaans: toelaat (af)
- Arabic: سَمَحَ بِـ (ar) (samaḥa bi-), سَمَحَ (ar) (samaḥa)
- Bulgarian: позволявам (bg) (pozvoljavam), разрешавам (bg) (razrešavam)
- Catalan: permetre (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: (please verify) 讓/让 (zh) (ràng), (please verify) 允許/允许 (zh) (yǔnxǔ)
- Czech: dovolit (cs), povolit (cs)
- Danish: tillade (da)
- Dutch: toelaten (nl)
- Esperanto: allasi
- Finnish: sallia (fi), antaa lupa
- French: permettre (fr)
- German: erlauben (de), zulassen (de)
- Greek: επιτρέπω (el) (epitrépo), αφήνω (el) (afíno)
- Haitian Creole: pèmèt
- Hebrew: אישר (he) (ishér)
- Hungarian: engedélyez (hu), megenged (hu)
- Irish: ceadaigh, lig, leomh, lamháil
- Italian: permettere (it), consentire (it)
- Japanese: 許す (ja) (ゆるす, yurusu), 許可する (ja) (きょかする, kyoka suru)
- Latin: patior (la), permitto, immitto, praetermitto, condono
- Malayalam: അനുവദിക്കുക (ml) (anuvadikkuka)
- Maori: tuku
- Norwegian: tillate (no)
- Polish: pozwolić (pl), zezwolić (pl) pf
- Portuguese: permitir (pt)
- Romanian: permite (ro), îngădui (ro)
- Romansch: lubir
- Russian: позволя́ть (ru) impf (pozvoljátʹ), позво́лить (ru) pf (pozvólitʹ), разреша́ть (ru) impf (razrešátʹ), разреши́ть (ru) pf (razrešítʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: leig le
- Spanish: permitir (es)
- Swahili: -kubalia
- Swedish: tillåta (sv)
- Tagalog: hayaan
- Tocharian B: kälm-
- Tok Pisin: larim
- Ukrainian: дозволя́ти impf (dozvoljáty), дозво́лити pf (dozvólyty)
- Vietnamese: cho phép (vi), cấp phép, cho (vi)
- Welsh: caniatáu (cy)
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to let something happen, to admit, to concede
- Afrikaans: toelaat (af)
- Bulgarian: позволявам (bg) (pozvoljavam), допускам (bg) (dopuskam)
- Chinese:
- Danish: tillade (da)
- Finnish: sallia (fi)
- German: erlauben (de), zulassen (de), zugestehen (de), laufen lassen
- Greek: παραδέχομαι (el) (paradéchomai)
- Hebrew: אפשר (he) (ifshér)
- Hungarian: enged (hu), hagy (hu)
- Italian: permettere (it), concedere (it)
- Japanese: 許す (ja) (ゆるす, yurusu)
- Mandarin: (please verify) 讓/让 (zh) (ràng) (please verify) 让 (zh) (ràng)
- Maori: tuku
- Polish: przyznać (pl)
- Portuguese: permitir (pt)
- Romanian: admite (ro)
- Russian: позволя́ть (ru) impf (pozvoljátʹ), позво́лить (ru) pf (pozvólitʹ), допуска́ть (ru) impf (dopuskátʹ), допусти́ть (ru) pf (dopustítʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: leig le
- Spanish: permitir (es)
- Swahili: -ruhusu
- Tok Pisin: larim
- Ukrainian: дозволя́ти impf (dozvoljáty), дозво́лити pf (dozvólyty), допуска́ти impf (dopuskáty), допусти́ти pf (dopustýty)
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to render physically possible
Translations to be checked
References