different between contribution vs allowance

English

Etymology

From Middle English contribucioun, contribucion, from Old French contribution, from Latin contrib?ti?nem, contrib?ti?, from Latin contribu?re.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?nt???bju??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?nt???bju???n/
• Rhymes: -u???n
• Hyphenation: con?tri?bu?tion

Noun

contribution (countable and uncountable, plural contributions)

1. Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole.
2. An amount of money given toward something.
3. The act of contributing.
4. The taking part, often with the idea that it has led to (scientific etc.) progress.

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin contributio.

Pronunciation

Noun

contribution f (plural contributions)

1. contribution
2. (archaic) contribution: levy or impost.

Derived terms

• mettre à contribution

Further reading

• “contribution” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• allowaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French alouance.

Morphologically allow +? -ance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??la??ns/

Noun

allowance (countable and uncountable, plural allowances)

1. permission; granting, conceding, or admitting
2. Acknowledgment.
3. That which is allowed; a share or portion allotted or granted; a sum granted as a reimbursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

     Some persons averred that Sir Pitt Crawley gave his brother a handsome allowance.

4. Abatement; deduction; the taking into account of mitigating circumstances
   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II

     After making the largest allowance for fraud.

5. (commerce) A customary deduction from the gross weight of goods, differing by country.

6. (horse racing) A permitted reduction in the weight that a racehorse must carry.

   Antonym: penalty

7. A child's allowance; pocket money.

8. (minting) A permissible deviation in the fineness and weight of coins, owing to the difficulty in securing exact conformity to the standard prescribed by law.
9. (obsolete) approval; approbation

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Crabbe to this entry?)

10. (obsolete) license; indulgence
    • 1695, John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity

      this Allowance for their Transgressions

Synonyms

• (act of allowing): authorization, permission, sanction, tolerance.
• (money): stipend
• (minting): remedy, tolerance

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

allowance (third-person singular simple present allowances, present participle allowancing, simple past and past participle allowanced)

1. (transitive) To put upon a fixed allowance (especially of provisions and drink).

2. (transitive) To supply in a fixed and limited quantity.