How to Use discretionary in a Sentence
discretionary
adjective-
The appeal to the state Supreme Court is discretionary, meaning the justices can vote to hear the case or not hear the case.
—Bill Rankin, ajc, 27 Apr. 2022
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Those goods ranged from food to discretionary items like home decor and lawn and gardens.
—Paige McGlauflin, Fortune, 27 July 2022
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There’s still a legal process to go through with a lot of discretionary hurdles.
—Nathan Deuel, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2021
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The appeal is discretionary, which means the Court can decide whether or not to address it.
—Jessie Balmert, The Enquirer, 10 Jan. 2023
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At the same time a discretionary 13.5% grant scheme will be merged into the offset system.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 9 May 2023
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Yeah, so there are some signs that discretionary spending is low.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 5 Sep. 2024
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Regulators are tossing due process and the rule of law to the curb to make way for broad and discretionary power.
—Rachel Chiu, National Review, 25 Oct. 2021
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This caps payments at 20% of your discretionary income and lasts 25 years.
—Nerd Wallet, oregonlive, 19 July 2021
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Consumer discretionary stocks, down 2.7% across the board, were again the worst performers.
—Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2024
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Any of this trio could also take home the discretionary Chronometry Prize too.
—Elizabeth Doerr, Robb Report, 7 Nov. 2023
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In the justice system, judges have the discretionary power to ask a jury to keep trying to reach a verdict.
—Gina Kaufman, Detroit Free Press, 15 July 2024
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Um, this was through a city discretionary fund for council members.
—Laura Johnston, cleveland, 11 May 2022
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Why will someone part with their discretionary income and buy this?
—Molly Baker, WSJ, 2 June 2021
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Consumer discretionary stocks, which have made up the worst-performing sector so far this year, led the S&P 500 higher for the day.
—Michele Luhn, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2025
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Members also have discretionary budgets to spend on the projects or services of their choice.
—Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2022
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Consider holding one the first weekend of the month when many people get paid and have more discretionary cash.
—Samantha S. Thorpe, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 July 2021
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There are parts of the budget, known as discretionary spending, that must be renewed by Congress each year.
—Jeff Stein, Anchorage Daily News, 27 May 2021
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There are parts of the budget, known as discretionary spending, that must be renewed by Congress each year.
—BostonGlobe.com, 27 May 2021
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Some, but not all, of that spending was drawn from the discretionary funding established after the cut to the LAPD budget last year.
—Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2021
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The decline in sales for Yum Brands may in part be tied to a decline in discretionary spending from consumers more broadly.
—Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 1 May 2024
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My salary is broken up by base, bonus, and additional discretionary bonus (paid out in Q1 of each year).
—Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 20 Oct. 2023
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When gas prices rise, the cost of filling up the tank chips away at consumers’ discretionary spending and puts the household budgets of the most vulnerable in the red.
—Justin Worland, Time, 24 Mar. 2022
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Then, in 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope’s director used his discretionary time to look what was then registered as a blank spot in the sky.
—Tim Fernholz, Quartz, 19 July 2022
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Customers had less share of wallet for discretionary spend.
—David Moin, WWD, 21 Jan. 2025
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Four years ago, Dallas was one of the first districts to ban discretionary out-of-school suspensions for students in second grade and younger.
—Emily Donaldson, Dallas News, 10 June 2021
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The 36-year-old is a discretionary double pick and will team with Jessica Pegula in Tokyo.
—Jeff Metcalfe, The Arizona Republic, 3 July 2021
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Schools can buy more counselor and nurse days using their own discretionary money.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Mar. 2023
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In exchange for a hike in the debt limit until early 2025, Democrats agreed to roughly freeze discretionary spending for two years.
—David Sivak, Washington Examiner, 6 June 2023
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Its middle income shoppers have pulled back on discretionary spending in the face of still-high prices for necessities.
—Time, 2 May 2025
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McDonald’s is the latest restaurant chain to report weak financial results amid signs that consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending.
—Rob Wile, NBC news, 1 May 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'discretionary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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