Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Discretionary |
DiscretionaryAdjective1. Having or using the ability to act or decide according to your own discretion or judgment; "The commission has discretionary power to award extra funds". 2. (especially of funds) not earmarked; available for use as needed; "discretionary funds"; "discretionary income". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "discretionary" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1749. (references) |
Synonym: DiscretionarySynonym: discretional (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Freedom | Unrestricted, unlimited, unmitigated, unconditional; absolute; discretionary; (optional). |
Will | Adjective: voluntary, volitional, willful; free; optional; discretional, discretionary; volitient, volitive. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Discretionary |
| English words defined with "discretionary": discretional, discretionary trust. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "discretionary": Budget Resolution ♦ Cancellation of Removal, Cotton competitiveness provisions ♦ discretionary income ♦ Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 ♦ Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative ♦ Internet Registry ♦ managed float, managed floating, managed future ♦ Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 ♦ Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children ♦ Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Customs officials have discretionary authority to ignore the invoice or transaction price as the principal basis for valuation. (references) | |
For successful nutritional supplement manufacturers, advertising plays a major role, since the products are generally considered discretionary purchases. (references) | ||
Last of all, industry interviews reveal that customs agents have fairly wide discretionary powers in deciding how to categorize a piece of equipment or parts of that equipment. (references) | ||
Children | Ghana | Between 1997 and 1999, according to government figures, spending on education accounted for 35 percent of discretionary spending. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Panama | A special executive branch authority has discretionary powers to administer the libel laws, which provided for fines and imprisonment for up to 2 years. (references) |
Venezuela | On October 3, President Chavez referred to this law when he criticized television station Globovisin and noted that the Government has the discretionary power to revoke licenses. (references) | |
Economic History | Brazil | The bureaucracy has broad discretionary authority. (references) |
Vietnam | Reserve and other similar funds now are discretionary. (references) | |
India | These bodies have discretionary powers and the approval process is not always routine or transparent. (references) | |
Human Rights | Israel and the occupied territories | Judges also have discretionary power to appoint an attorney in all cases. (references) |
Singapore | Caning is discretionary for convictions on other charges involving the use of criminal force, such as kidnaping or voluntarily causing grievous hurt. (references) | |
Nepal | Human rights monitors express concern that the act vests too much discretionary power in the CDO, the highest-ranking civil servant in each of the country's 75 districts. (references) | |
Political Economy | VENEZUELA | However, the law leaves the Executive Branch significant discretionary power in granting contracts. (references) |
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | In addition, the Dominican Republic has a discretionary import permit requirement for some agricultural products, especially beef and pork. (references) | |
JORDAN | Tariff assessment remains discretionary and the Customs Law awards customs officials who uncover invoice misreporting and impose penalties on importers. (references) | |
Trade | Dominican Rep | There are no legal prohibitions to imports although discretionary import licenses continued to be required from the Secretariat of Agriculture for most agricultural products. (references) |
Worker Rights | Kenya | Moreover, the act gives the Minister of Labor broad discretionary power to determine the legality of any strike. (references) |
Papua New Guinea | Under the law, the Government has discretionary power to cancel arbitration awards or declare wage agreements void when they are contrary to government policy. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | Having reached his destination after his knowledge of the war, and possessing discretionary authority to act offensively, he passed into the neighboring territory of the enemy with a prospect of easy and victorious progress. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | In its application to the Executive, with reference to the legislative branch of the Government, the same rule of action should make the President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any discretionary authority which can be regulated by Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Discretionary" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.66% of the time. "Discretionary" is used about 587 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.66% | 585 | 10,828 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.34% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 587 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "discretionary": discretionary access controll ♦ discretionary clause ♦ discretionary power ♦ discretionary powers ♦ discretionary spending ♦ discretionary trust. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "discretionary": non-discretionary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "discretionary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i lirë për të vepruar, i lënë në dorë të dikujt. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 任意 (Optional, Random). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | diskreèní moc (discretionary powers). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | diskretionær adgangskontrol (compare to Mandatory Access Control, discretionary access controll). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | marginale toetsing (judicial review of whether discretionary administrative powers have been exercised reasonably, test of reasonability), facultatieve toegangscontrole (compare to Mandatory Access Control, discretionary access controll), bestedingsvrijheid (discretionary spending). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | احتیاطی , بصیرتی . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | contrôle d'acces discrétionnaire (discretionary access controll), contrôle d'accès facultatif (discretionary access controll). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Handlungsfreiheit (freedom of action). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | tetszés szerinti (arbitrary, at discretion, on discretion, upon discretion), diszkrecionális. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | terserah kepada kebijaksanaan, sekehendak hati. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | elasticit di azione (freedom of action). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 任意 (optional, voluntary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | じゆうさいりょうけ" (discretionary power). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | teiyagh (choosey, discriminating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | iscretionaryday discreţionar. (various references) дискреционный. (various references) meachainn (deduction, discretionary power, mercy). (various references) discrecional (discretional, optional). (various references) godtycklig (arbitrary, capricious, fortuitous, indiscriminate, just any, random). (various references) isteğe bağlı (arbitrary, facultative, incidental, optional, permissive, unprompted), ihtiyari (facultative, optional, unprompted). (various references) tuỳ ý mình, được tự do l m theo ý mình. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "discretionary": nondiscretionary. (additional references) | |
| |
"Discretionary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dicretionary, discreationary, discretinary, discretionaly. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "discretionary" (pronounced di'skre"shune'rē) |
| 7 | -e" sh u n e' r ē | concessionary, recessionary. |
| 6 | -sh u n e' r ē | cautionary, confectionary, confectionery, counterrevolutionary, deflationary, dictionary, disinflationary, evolutionary, expansionary, expeditionary, functionary, inflationary, missionary, noninflationary, probationary, reactionary, revolutionary, stationary, stationery. |
| 5 | -u n e' r ē | bicentenary, cardiopulmonary, centenary, coronary, culinary, disciplinary, diversionary, exclusionary, extraordinary, illusionary, imaginary, interdisciplinary, luminary, mercenary, ordinary, preliminary, pulmonary, seminary, urinary, veterinary, visionary. |
| 4 | -n e' r ē | quaternary. |
| 3 | -e' r ē | actuary, adversary, ancillary, apothecary, arbitrary, aviary, beneficiary, Blackberry, blueberry, budgetary, capillary, Cassowary, cemetery, cometary, commentary, commissary, Constabulary, contemporary, corollary, cranberry, customary, depositary, Dewberry, dietary, dignitary, Dogberry, dromedary, dysentery, emissary, epistolary, estuary, fiduciary, formulary, fragmentary, funerary, gooseberry, hackberry, hereditary, honorary, Huckleberry, interplanetary, involuntary, itinerary, judiciary, lapidary, legendary, library, literary, military, momentary, monastery, monetary, mortuary, mulberry, necessary, nonmilitary, obituary, paramilitary, pecuniary, pituitary, planetary, primary, proprietary, raspberry, Rosemary, salutary, sanctuary, sanitary, savagery, secondary, secretary, sedentary, semilegendary, solitary, statuary, strawberry, subsidiary, temporary, Tilbury, topiary, tributary, undersecretary, unitary, unnecessary, unsanitary, vocabulary. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-i-i-n-o-r-r-s-t-y" | |
-1 letter: doctrinaires. | |
-2 letters: doctrinaire, ordinariest, tyrocidines. | |
-3 letters: arytenoids, contraries, corianders, criterions, dictionary, directions, discretion, distrainer, distrainor, indicators, indicatory, irridentas, ordinaries, redactions, syndicator, tyrocidine, tyrocidins. | |
-4 letters: acridines, actinides, actinoids, andesitic, anoretics, arytenoid, asyndetic, carrotins, caryotins, catenoids, centroids, coriander, costarred, crayonist, creations, creditors, criterion, cytidines, dacoities, dicentras, direction, directors, directory, disorient, doctrines, ideations, indicates, indicator, indicters, indictors. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-e-i-i-n-o-r-r-s-t-y" | |
+3 letters: nondiscretionary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 69 73 63 72 65 74 69 6F 6E 61 72 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. .. ... -.-. .-. . - .. --- -. .- .-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01101001 01110011 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D i s c r e t i o n a r y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0069 0073 0063 0072 0065 0074 0069 006F 006E 0061 0072 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)38758569847186758180678491 |
| Language | Coverage | Language Translations |
Albanian | fjalor, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, transmetim, transferim | shqip, 阿"巴尼亚语, 阿爾巴尼亞人 , albánský, Albanees, Albanais, albaner, albán, albanese, Albaneagh, arnãut, albanez, arnãuţesc, албанский, albanés, alban, Arnavut |
Chinese | 字典 , 定義 , 定义, 翻译 | kinez, 汉语, 中 , 漢 , 中國 , èínský, èínština, èíòan, kineser, Chinois, Chinesisch, kínai, cinese, チフス菌 , チャイニーズ , Sheenish, Sheenagh, chinezesc, chinezeşte, chinezã, chinez, китайский, китаец, chino, kinesisk, çinli, çince, çin ile ilgili, çin |
Czech | slovník, definice, překlad | çek, 捷克語 , 捷克语, 捷克 , èesky, èeské, èech, èeština, èeský, èeška, tjekker, tjekke, Tsjech, Tsjechisch, tchèque, Tscheche, tschechisch, Tschechin, cseh, ceco, Sheckagh, Sheckish, ceh, чешский, checo, tjeck, Çek, çekoslovakyalı kimse, çekoslovakyalı, çek dili, người Séc tiếng Séc |
Danish | ordbog, deskriptordefinition, oversættelse | danisht, danishte, 丹麦语, dánský, dánština, danois, dänisch, dán, danese, Danvargish, Danvargagh, danez, датский, danés, dansk, danimarkalı, danimarka dili, tiếng Đan-mạch |
Dutch | woordenboek, definitie, translatie | holandez, 菏蘭語 , 荷兰语, holandský, nizozemský, hollandsk, néerlandais, holländisch, holland, olandese, Ollanish, Germaanish, olandez, nemţesc, limba olandezã, german, голландский, holandés, holländsk, alman, eş, flemenkçe, holandaca, hollanda, karı, hollandalı, hollandalılara özgü olan, Hollandali, hollanda'ya ait, ngôn ngữ khó hiểu, "b xã" |
French | dictionnaire, définition, traduction | frëngjishte, frëng, franceze, 法國 , 法文 , 法語 , 法语, francouzský, francouzština, français, französisch, francia, francese, フレコン化 , 仏文 , フランス" , 仏 , ふつぶ", ふつ, フレンチ , フランセ , Ny Frangee, Mooinjey ny Frank, francezii, franţuzesc, francezã, francez, franţuzeşte, французский, francés, fransk, franska, fransızca, fransız, Fransiz, fransızca ile ilgili, fransa ile ilgili |
German | Übersetzung, Wörterbuch, Definition | gjerman, 德语, 德國 , 德文 , 德語 , nìmec, nìmecký, tysker, Duitse, allemand, német, tedesco, ジプシー音楽 , ジャーマン , Germaanish, Germaanagh, Garmane, Carmane, neamţ, немецкий, alemán, tysk, alman, $sisters german$ chị em ruột, $cousin german$ anh chị em con chú bác ruột, sister |
Hungarian | szótár, meghatározás, definíció, fordítás | 匈牙利语, 匈牙利語 , maïarský, maïarština, maïar, ungarer, Hongaarse, hongrois, Ungar, magyar, ungherese, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, unguresc, limba ungarã, limba maghiarã, ungureşte, ungur, maghiar, венгр, венгерский, húngaro, ungrare, macarca, macar, người Hung-ga-ri tiếng Hung-ga-ri |
Indonesian | indonezian, 印度尼西亞語 , 印度尼西亚语, indonéština, indonéský, indonésan, indoneser, Indonesisch, Indisch, Indonesiër, indonésien, Indonesier, indonéz, indonesiano, インドネシア語 , インドネシア", Indoneesagh, индонезийский, индонезиец, indonesio, endonezya'ya ait, endonezyalı, endonezya dili, endonezya, người In-ddô-nê-xi-a tiếng In-ddô-nê-xi-a | |
Italian | dizionario, definizione, traduzione | 意大利 , 意大利語 , 意大利语, italský, italština, ital, italiener, italien, italienisch, olasz, italiano, Iddaalish, italienesc, italieneşte, italian, italianã, итальянский язык, итальянец, итальянский, italiensk, italienska, italienare, italyanca, italyan |
Japanese Kanji | 辭典 , 辞典 , 字引 , 辞林 , 字書 , ディーゼル電気車 , 言海 , 辞彙 , 辞書 , 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , 翻訳 | japonez, 日語 , 日语, 日本 , 日文 , 倭 , japonský, Japonais, japaner, japanisch, japán, giapponese, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, japonezã, японский, японец, japonés, japansk, Japonca, người Nhật bản tiếng Nhật bản |
Japanese Katakana | じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, へい"ういどう, やくじゅつ, トランスレーション , やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, ほ"やくしょ | japonez, 日語 , 日语, 日本 , 日文 , 倭 , japonský, Japonais, japaner, japanisch, japán, giapponese, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, japonezã, японский, японец, japonés, japansk, Japonca, người Nhật bản tiếng Nhật bản |
Manx | fockleyr, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght | gjuha e popullsisë së ishullit men, manština, manský, manx, mann-szigeti nyelv, Manninish, Manninagh, Gaelgagh, Yn Ghaelg, язык жителей о-ва мэн, с о-ва мэн, los habitantes de la isla de man, lengua de la isla de man, de la isla de man, från ön man, man adası, man dili |
Romanian | dicţionar, definiţie, determinare, definire, translaţie, traducere, tãlmãcire | rumun, 罗马尼亚语, rumunský, rumunština, rumæner, Roemeens, Roumain, rumäne, román, rumeno, Roomainagh, român, румынский, румын, rumano, rumänsk |
Russian | словарь, определение, трансляция, сдвиг, перевод, перемещение | 俄語 , 俄文 , 俄语, ruština, ruský, russer, Russe, russisch, orosz, russo, ロシア語 , ロシア", Rooshish, Rooshagh, русский, ruso, ryss, Rusça, người Nga tiếng Nga |
Scottish | foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan | skocez, 苏 兰, skotský, Schots, écossais, schottisch, skót, scozzese, Albinagh, scoţian, шотландский, escocés, skotsk, iskoçyalı |
Spanish | diccionario, definición, traducción | spanjoll, 西班牙語 , 西班牙文 , 西班牙语, španìlský, španìlština, Spaans, espagnol, spanisch, spanyol, spagnolo, スペイン語 , スパイ罪 , スペイン", スパニッシュ , Spaainish, Spaainagh, spaniol, spaniolesc, spanioleşte, испанский, español, spanska språk, spansk, ispanyollar, ispanyol, ispanyolca |
Swedish | ordbok, lexikon, översättning | suedez, 瑞典語 , 瑞典语, švédský, švédština, Zweeds, suédois, schwedisch, svéd, svedese, スウェーデン語 , スウェーデン", Soolynish, Soolynagh, шведский, sueco, svensk, isveççe, isveç dili, isveç, Ísveçlí, người Thuỵ điển tiếng Thuỵ điển |
Turkish | sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, tercüme | turk, 土耳其語 , 土耳其, turecký, tureètina, turque, türkisch, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, turcesc, turc, турецкий, turco, turkisk, türkçe, türk, tiếng Thổ nhĩ kỳ |
Vietnamese | có tính chất sách vở, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích | vietnamisht, vietnamez, 越南語 , 越南语, 越南 , vietnamec, vietnamský, vietnamka, vietnamština, vietnameser, vietnamien, vietnamesin, vietnamesisch, vietnamese, vietnami, vietnámi, ベトナ 人 , ベトナ じ", вьетнамский, vietnames, vietnamlı, vietnam dili, vietnam, người Việt nam tiếng Việt |
English | Dictionary, Definition, Translation | anglezët, anglez, gjuhë zngleze, anglishte, anglisht, 英语, 英國 , 英文 , 英 , 英語 , anglicky, anglais, englisch, angol, inglese, Sostynagh, Sostnagh, Baarlagh, englezesc, английский, beurla, inglés, engelsk, ingiltere, ingiliz, Íngílízce, ingilizce, Íngílíz, ýngilizce |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Quotations: Speeches 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
