Allotted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Designated to be given to a particular person or for a specific use
2. Assigned as a share or portion to a particular purpose or group
3. Set aside or reserved for a specific individual or intended use ; given out as a part or portion to a particular group or purpose

Etymology: "Allotted" is the past participle of "allot," and the verb's core idea is literally "to divide by lot." Its ancestry runs through Old French "aloter," formed from "a-" (to) and "lot," a share or portion, which in turn came from a Germanic source related to "lot" in the sense of casting or drawing lots. The English verb is attested from the 1400s, and the original picture was one of chance: a portion was assigned by drawing a marked token from a container, not by a person deciding who deserved what. That chance element faded as the word settled into administrative use. Lots were once a common way to split land, inheritances, and duties fairly when no single party could be trusted to divide them, and "allot" carried that sense of fair, impersonal distribution. Over time the emphasis shifted from the act of drawing lots to the outcome, so an allotted share came to mean any share officially set aside for someone.

Synonyms: assigned, designated, allocated, apportioned, distributed

Antonyms: withheld, retracted, denied, reserved, unassigned