Allowed

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /əˈlaʊd/

Definitions

1. Having received permission to do something or being officially permitted ; regarded as acceptable or proper according to rules or standards
2. Granted authorization or approval to proceed with an action ; deemed suitable or fitting in a particular context
3. Given consent or allowed to take place by authority ; considered appropriate or permissible within a situation

Etymology: The adjective "allowed" is a participle, so its story is really the story of the verb it comes from. That verb arrived in English from Anglo-Norman, where "alouer" was a blend of two Latin words that had meant quite different things. One was "allaudare", "to praise" or "to commend", built from "ad" plus "laudare". The other was "allocare", "to place" or "to assign", built from "ad" plus "locare", "to place", which in turn came from "locus", "place". The two were pulled together in Old French and Anglo-Norman, so "allow" carries both a sense of approving and a sense of assigning a share. That split explains the meanings in English. The older sense of "allow" was to approve or sanction, as in permitting something or consenting to it, and the modern sense of an allowed thing as one that is authorized or fitting grows from that. The sense of assigning or granting a portion survives in "allowance" and in the phrase "to allow for" something, meaning to set aside room for it.

Synonyms: permitted, accepted, authorized, granted, approved

Antonyms: forbidden, banned, prohibited, restricted, denied