apportionap‧por‧tion /əˈpɔːʃən $ -ɔːr-/ verb [transitive] formal 
It’s not easy to apportion blame (=say who deserves to be blamed) when a marriage breaks up.apportion among/between Court costs were equally apportioned between them.—apportionment noun [countable, uncountable]
WORD ORIGINapportion
Origin:
1500-1600 French apportionner, from portionner ‘to portion’VERB TABLE
apportion
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | apportion |
| he, she, it | apportions | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | apportioned |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have apportioned |
| he, she, it | has apportioned | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had apportioned |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will apportion |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have apportioned |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am apportioning |
| he, she, it | is apportioning | |
| you, we, they | are apportioning | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was apportioning |
| you, we, they | were apportioning | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been apportioning |
| he, she, it | has been apportioning | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been apportioning |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be apportioning |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been apportioning |
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- It was also open to the Revenue to apportion the tax among several beneficiaries according to any method they thought fit.
- Should this be the case, the price may need to be apportioned.
- The higher the eventual rank, the more likely was blame to be similarly apportioned.
- The rest of the delegates are apportioned by congressional districts, with the winner of each district getting three delegates.
- The value of shared facilities or labour must be apportioned strictly in proportion to relative benefits received.
- Two remaining segments, along the Sumpul and Torola rivers, were apportioned between the two countries.
Longman Language Activatorto blame someone for something
to say or think that someone is responsible for something bad that has happened: · It's your idea - don't blame me if it doesn't work.· Everyone wants to blame the referees when their team loses.blame somebody for something: · Democrats have blamed Republicans for the failure to reach an agreement.blame something on somebody/something: · Some of the women blamed their husbands' violence on drinking.blame yourself: · For many years I blamed myself for her death.
especially spoken to say that someone is responsible for something bad that has happened: · Everyone is saying it's my fault, but I didn't have anything to do with it.say it's sb's fault (that): · How can you say it's my fault that you lost your job?
to say who you think is responsible for something bad that has happened, often unfairly or wrongly: · Don't try to put the blame on me!· Subsequent investigations placed the blame squarely on city officials.put/lay the blame for something on somebody/something: · Farmers have laid the blame for their problems entirely on EU policies.
to say that someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something bad: · They're accusing me without any proof.accuse somebody of doing something: · Are you accusing her of lying?· The woman was accused of having beaten her four-year-old daughter.be accused of murder/armed robbery etc: · West has been accused of first-degree murder.
formal to officially say which people are responsible for something bad that has happened: · It is not easy for the Committee of Inquiry to apportion blame in such a complicated case.
to say that it is someone's fault that something bad has happened because you think it was their duty to prevent this from happening: · It's your decision - you can't hold me responsible if it goes wrong.hold sb responsible for: · Alex still holds his mother responsible for the divorce.hold somebody partly/largely/entirely responsible: · The shipment never arrived, and we are holding the freight company entirely responsible.hold somebody personally responsible (=blame one person only): · If anything happens to Donny, I'll hold you personally responsible.
to feel that something is your fault and wish that you had done more to prevent it from happening: · There's no point in reproaching yourself - there's nothing you could have done.reproach yourself for: · He reproached himself for not having called the police sooner.
to become angry at someone who tells you bad news even though they are not responsible for what has happened: · If you don't listen and instead shoot the messenger, you're not going to learn about the problems you need to deal with.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY It’s not easy to apportion blame (=say who deserves to be blamed) when a marriage breaks up.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
to decide how something should be shared among various people: It’s not easy to apportion blame (=say who deserves to be blamed) when a marriage breaks up. formal (=find someone to blame for something)· He seemed to want to apportion blame for her death.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· Our article of May 13, 1986 was not intended to apportion blame for Mr Mikkelson's death.· The trial judge must therefore apportion blame between the parties.
It’s not easy to apportion blame (=say who deserves to be blamed) when a marriage breaks up.apportion among/between Court costs were equally apportioned between them.—apportionment noun [countable, uncountable]