Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use allow in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Allow means to let one have as a suitable share of something. Example: “The event allows of only one interpretation.”

Examples of allow by meaning

verbTo let one have as a suitable share of something.

  • to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest

verbTo present something as possible or reasonable.

  • The event allows of only one interpretation.

verbTo permit, to give permission to.

  • I will allow my son to be absent.

verbTo not bar or obstruct.

  • Although I don't consent to their holding such meetings, I will allow them for the time being.
  • Smoking (is) allowed only in designated areas.
  • And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26

verbTo acknowledge, accept the truth of; to concede; to accede to an opinion; to say something one agrees on in the context...

  • to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow an appeal
  • You must allow that disagreeing about politics puts a strain on a relationship.
  • "Well, that rug does match the wallpaper," he allowed.

verbTo grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.

  • to allow a sum for leakage
  • How much will you allow on my old jalopy?

verbTo make an allowance, to take into account when making plans.

  • When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.

verbTo render physically possible.

  • Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)

More sentences with allow

  • A peasant is not allowed to fall in love with a lady of quality.From the entry quality
  • The expedition paused to allow for proper acclimatization at base camp.From the entry acclimatization
  • A change to the blockchain method was contemplated to allow mines to hog less electric power.From the entry mine
  • The bathroom was for employees only, so civilians weren't allowed to use it.From the entry civilian
  • Bad! You know you're not allowed in the kitchen after dinner.From the entry bad
  • I will not allow it, as long as I still breathe.From the entry breathe
  • His low voice allowed him to become a bass in the choir.From the entry voice
  • These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.From the entry piece
  • Though Islam allows polygamy, it is frowned upon in many contemporary Muslim societies.From the entry polygamy
  • Manual controls allow the user to override the camera's default settings.From the entry override
  • He was allowed to go as soon as the kidnappers were paid.From the entry pay
  • Our physical advantage allowed us to wear the other team out and win.From the entry wear
  • Substitutes are only allowed onto the field after their boots are checked.From the entry field
  • Gold is highly ductile, allowing it to be drawn into very fine wires.From the entry ductile
  • A roaming profile allows your settings to follow you from one computer to another across a network.From the entry profile
  • Only the solidarity provided by her siblings allowed Margaret to cope with her mother's harrowing death.From the entry solidarity
  • Wikipedia is an interactive encyclopedia which allows anybody to edit and improve articles.From the entry edit
  • We've added hooks to allow undefined message types to be handled with custom code.From the entry hook
  • Virtual addressing allows computer applications to believe that there is much more physical memory than actually exists.From the entry virtual
  • They'd been receiving complaints because they'd allowed their product's quality to deteriorate.From the entry they'd
  • The children were made to do their daily chores before being allowed to play games.From the entry chore
  • Strawberry Perl contains vendored copies of some CPAN modules, designed to allow them to run on Windows.From the entry vendor
  • They don't allow Muslims and gays to join the club? That's racist!From the entry racist
  • It's a very creative job, allowing us a great deal of latitude.From the entry -ing
  • I docked the laptop and allowed it to recharge for an hour.From the entry dock
  • She pulled the seat from under the table to allow him to sit down.From the entry seat
  • His dire blunder allowed her to checkmate him with her next move.From the entry dire

Meaning of allow

  1. verb To let one have as a suitable share of something.
  2. verb To present something as possible or reasonable.
  3. verb To permit, to give permission to.

Full definition of allow

Questions about allow in a sentence

How do you use allow in a sentence?
Allow is used as a verb. For example: “The event allows of only one interpretation.”
What is a short sentence with allow?
“to allow a sum for leakage”
What does allow mean?
Allow means to let one have as a suitable share of something.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: allow (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use allow in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/allow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.