Dis'pen-sā'tion, n.
n. [Lat. dispensatio, Fr. dispensation, Pr. dispensation, dispensatio, Sp. dispensación, It. dispensazione. See DISPENSE, v.]
Sense 1. The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution;—often used of the distribution of good and evil by God to man, or more generically of the acts and modes of his administration.
Respect the dispensations of Providence. Burke.
Sense 2. That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed; especially, (Theol.) a system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; as, the Mosaic and Christian dispensations.
Neither are God's methods or intentions different in his dispensations to each private man. Rogers.
Sense 3. The granting of a license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden; that is, the dispensing with a law or canon, or the exemption of a particular person from the obligation to comply with its injunctions. The pope has power to dispense with the canons of the church, but has no right to grant dispensations to the injury of a third person.
A dispensation was obtained to enable Dr. Barrow to marry. Ward.