meting out
Allotting to recipients
Meting out is distributing or dispensing something, almost always punishment or justice: The judge meted out harsh sentences to the conspirators.
The phrase carries a sense of measured, deliberate allocation—portioning out what is deserved.
You might mete out praise or rewards, but the expression gravitates toward consequences: meting out discipline, meting out retribution.
- dispensingGiving out portions
- dolingDispensing in limited portions
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- justiceFair treatment under law
- swift justiceRapid legal punishment
poetic justice · just deserts · sentencing · harsh sentence · judgment · final judgment · retribution · divine retribution · allocating · distributing · fair share · verdict · court order · penalty · apportioning · discipline · reckoning · handing down
- distributingdistributing, dispensing, allocating, apportioning, divvying up
- dividing and givingdistribute, allocate, divide, give, share
meting outhoarding
Excessive accumulation of goods
withholding · accumulating · amassing · stockpiling · keeping
meting outwithholding
Keeping from another
holding back · keeping back · reserving · denying · refusing
meting outscattering
Distribution in many directions
mete, meted, meter, measure, measured, measures, measuring, measurement, measurable