allow

English Online Dictionary. What means allow‎? What does allow mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudāre, 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

• enPR: ə-lou', IPA^(key): /əˈlaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

Verb

allow (third-person singular simple present allows, present participle allowing, simple past and past participle allowed)

1. (ditransitive) To let one have as a suitable share of something.
2. (transitive, catenative) To permit, to give permission to.
3. To not bar or obstruct.
4. (transitive) To acknowledge, accept the truth of; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
5. (transitive) To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.

6. (transitive) To make an allowance, to take into account when making plans.

7. (transitive) To render physically possible.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
9. (obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
10. (transitive, obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.
11. (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)

12. (transitive, MTE, MLE) To forgo bothering with, to let slide.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (let have): grant, admit, afford, yield, give, permit, allot, bestow, concede
• (give permission): permit, let, grant licence to, consent
• (not bar or obstruct): tolerate, suffer, permit, admit, concede
• (acknowledge the truth of): concede, accede, acquiesce

Antonyms

• ban
• forbid
• prohibit

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• “allow”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.