Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dd: Dispensation


n.
1.
a. The act of dispensing.
b. Something dispensed.
c. A specific arrangement or system by which something is dispensed.
2. An exemption or release from an obligation or rule, granted by or as if by an authority.
3.
a. An exemption from a church law, a vow, or another similar obligation granted in a particular case by an ecclesiastical authority.
b. The document containing this exemption.
4. Theology
a. The divine ordering of worldly affairs.
b. A religious system or code of commands considered to have been divinely revealed or appointed.

[Medieval Latin dispnsti, dispnstin-, from Latin, distribution, management, from dispnstus, past participle of dispnsre, to distribute; see dispense.]

dispen·sation·al adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

What thou sayst is passing true, but I like not the privileges acquired by the dispensation of the Grand Master, and the merit acquired by the slaughter of three hundred Saracens.Ivanhoe by Scott, Walter


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