1 [count] a : an amount of money that is given to someone regularly or for a specific purpose
▪ a monthly allowance for household expenses ▪ a clothing allowance
b chiefly US : a small amount of money that is regularly given to children by their parents
▪ Each of their children gets a weekly allowance of five dollars. 2 [count] a : an amount of something (such as time) that is allowed or available
▪ The schedule provides a generous allowance of time for sightseeing. [=provides a generous amount of time for sightseeing]
b : an amount that is regarded as acceptable or desirable
▪ the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C
c : an amount that is subtracted from the price of something
▪ When we bought our new car we got a trade-in allowance of $2,000 on our old car. [=the price of our new car was reduced by $2,000 because we traded in our old car]
d Brit : an amount of your earnings that you do not have to pay taxes on
▪ the tax allowance for married couples 3 a [noncount] : the act of thinking about or including something when you make a plan, calculation, etc.
▪ When you're comparing costs from different decades, you need to make allowance for inflation. [=you need to allow for inflation] ▪ His theory makes no allowance for [=does not allow for] the possibility that the disease may be genetic.
b : the act of regarding bad behavior or a mistake as less serious or bad because of some special situation or condition [noncount] ▪ She performed poorly, but we should make some allowance for her inexperience. = Some allowance should be made for her inexperience. [=because she is inexperienced, we should not blame her too much for performing poorly] [count] ▪ They performed poorly, but allowances should be made for their inexperience. 4 [noncount] formal : the act of allowing something
▪ The lawyer protested the judge's allowance of the evidence.