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portion

POR-shuhn/ˈpɔɹʃən/UKPAW-shuhn/ˈpɔːʃən/

Pluralportions

Verbportions, portioning, portioned

7 meanings of portion

Practice

  1. 1
    partnouncountable
    A part or section of a whole; any piece of something, whether or not it has been separated from the rest.

    A large portion of the manuscript was lost in the fire.

    Engineers replaced the corroded portions of the pipeline.

    UsageUsually a portion of something, often with a size word: a large portion of, a small portion of.

    Similarpart, piece, bit, chunk, fragment

    Oppositewhole

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    An amount allocated to a person or purpose, especially an amount of food for one person.

    The recipe makes six generous portions.

    Each department received its portion of the annual budget.

    UsageCommon with food: a generous portion, portion size, a portion of fries.

    Similarserving, helping, share, ration, allocation

    Note

    In everyday use the word belongs to kitchens and budgets (a generous portion, its portion of the funds). What sets it apart from the plain word part is purpose: a portion is the amount meant for one person or one use, whether a server dishes it out or you help yourself.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To divide something into amounts, as when allocating it to specific people or purposes.

    Restaurants portion their ingredients in advance to keep costs steady.

    The committee portioned the grant money among three projects.

    UsageOften portion out; you portion something into parts or among people: portion the soup into bowls.

    Similardivide, allocate, apportion, distribute, split

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Origin

Latin "portio" (a share, part, or proportion), related to "pars" (part), passed into Old French as "porcion," and Middle English borrowed it as "porcioun."