Allocate

How to spell allocate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce allocate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does allocate mean?

1. verbTo distribute or set aside resources, time, or responsibilities for a particular purpose.

Allocate in a sentence

• The committee will allocate funds to each department next month.

• Managers must allocate enough time for proper testing.

Where does allocate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from medieval Latin allocare, meaning 'to place' or 'to assign to a position', built from the prefix ad- ('to' or 'towards', which assimilates to al- before an l) and locus, the ordinary Latin noun for 'a place'. The literal idea was therefore to set something into its proper place, and from there the sense broadened into apportioning or earmarking resources for a particular purpose. English took the word up in the seventeenth century, largely through accounting and administrative contexts where money or duties had to be assigned to defined headings. The same locus root sits behind familiar relatives such as 'local', 'location', and 'locate', and recognising that shared loc spelling helps fix the single l in the middle and the doubled l at the start.

How the word is built

• al- (from ad-: to, towards)
• loc (from locus: place)
• -ate (verb suffix)