appropriation

play

noun ap·pro·pri·a·tion \ə-ˌprō-prē-ˈā-shən\

Definition of appropriation

1 : an act or instance of appropriating something
2 : something that has been appropriated; specifically : money set aside by formal action for a specific use the city's appropriation for schools

appropriative

play \-ˈprō-prē-ˌā-tiv\ adjective

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See appropriation defined for kids

Examples of appropriation in a Sentence

the appropriation of funds to repair the bridge
The economy has been weakened by the appropriation of the country's resources by corrupt officials.

Recent Examples of appropriation from the Web

Has the debate over race and appropriation influenced your approach to this show?

— hilarie m. sheets, New York Times, "How Glenn Ligon Is Using Black and Blue to Begin a Dialogue", 2 June 2017
Terrebonne Parish residents have repeatedly approved local tax increases to allow the local levee district to begin construction of the project, hoping that the investment will be repaid by Congress approving future appropriations.

— mark schleifstein, NOLA.com, "Missing from Trump's budget: See Louisiana projects with no federal funding", 1 June 2017
The downgrades, which also dropped some debt backed by legislative appropriations into junk, came a day after Illinois’s legislature blew the deadline for approving a compromise budget by a simple majority.

— elizabeth campbell, Bloomberg.com, "S&P, Moody's Downgrade Illinois to Near Junk, Lowest Ever for a U.S. State", 1 June 2017
Most notably, an Anglo-run Portland burrito pop-up, quickly closed after charges of cultural appropriation and even recipe theft.

— robert philpot, star-telegram, "Deep Ellum taco war: Revolver vs. Bowls & Tacos", 1 June 2017
Parents are petitioning the town council to move $625,000 from the school capital appropriations to pay for special education outplacements and the opening of the two high school STEM academies.

— kathleen mcwilliams, Courant Community, "Newington Parents Petition To Fund Special Ed And STEM Program", 1 June 2017
The budget request also eliminates the separate emergency refugee and migration funds that Congress allocated $50 million to in the 2017 appropriations bill.

— matthew lee, The Seattle Times, "With lawsuits pending, Trump moves to cut refugee admissions", 31 May 2017
Sen. Dianne Feinstein ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS: More than 500 bills that would have a fiscal impact on California are up for a hearing in Assembly Appropriations.

— angela hart, sacbee, "California wants to prevent ‘bomb trains’ from running through neighborhoods", 26 May 2017
Steve Bramucci, a writer and editor at Uproxx, convened a round-table discussion about cultural appropriation for a handful of food writers.

— lisa gutierrez, kansascity, "Two white women accused of cultural appropriation shut down their Oregon burrito shop", 26 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'appropriation'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.