What does allow mean?
Allow is one of the most frequently used verbs in English, meaning to grant permission, permit something to happen, or make provision for something. When you allow someone to act, you remove an obstacle or grant consent, as when a parent allows a child to attend a party or a law allows citizens to vote. The word also carries a planning sense: to 'allow for' something is to build it into your calculations, such as allowing extra time for traffic. In older and chiefly British usage, allow can mean to concede or admit a point, as in 'I allow that he may be right.' Derived forms include allowance, which names a fixed sum of money or quantity allotted regularly, and allowable, describing what rules or circumstances permit. Allow traces back through Old French alouer to Latin allocare, meaning to place or set aside, linking it etymologically to allocate and allot. Its flexibility across permission, concession, and provision makes it indispensable in both everyday speech and formal writing.
To permit, let, or authorize; to give permission for something to happen or be done.
"The manager allowed the team to leave early on Friday."
Often used with modal-like force: 'allow me' is a polite formula offering assistance.
To take something into account or make provision for it, especially in planning or calculation.
"The recipe allows 20 minutes for the dough to rise."
To acknowledge or concede that something is true or acceptable.
"I allow that her argument has some merit."
Chiefly British and somewhat old-fashioned.
As a noun, 'allow' appears mainly in the derived form 'allowance', meaning a fixed amount of money or resource allotted at regular intervals.
"Each child receives a weekly allowance of five dollars."
The bare noun 'allow' is rare; use 'allowance' instead.
"Allow" and "aloud" differ by a single letter, yet one means permission and the other means volume — a typo waiting to happen since medieval times.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of allow
Allow entered Middle English from Old French alouer, which itself blended two Latin roots: allocare ('to place, locate, set aside'), giving senses of allotting and approving, and laudare ('to praise'), contributing meanings of approval and sanction. Over time the approval sense evolved into modern permission, while the allocation sense survives in 'allowance' and in cognates like allocate and allot. Related words sharing the allocare root include allocate, allotment, and localize.
Related word forms
How allow is actually used
In British English, 'allow' can carry the sense of conceding or admitting a point ('I allow that...'), a usage less common in American English. The verb is neutral in register, appearing equally in formal legal language and everyday conversation. Note that 'allow' as a noun sense exists only in the specialized form 'allowance'.
Easily confused with allow
'Aloud' means in a voice that can be heard (speaking audibly), while 'allow' means to permit or let happen — the two words differ by only one letter but have unrelated meanings.