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Definition of dispensation : 1. A system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; scheme; economy; as, the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations.
2. That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed
3. 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.
4. The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will ( oaths, vows, etc.).

Synonyms:

administration, autarky, anarchy, approval, direction, issuance, big government, give, authority, centralism, clearance, presentation, absolutism, caretaker government, regulation, autocracy, admeasurement, coalition, sanction, supervision, indulgence, disbursement, authorization, leave, handover, application, issue, distribution, consent, collect, autonomy, banana republic

apportionment, assignment, quantum, division, commission, measure, allotment, part, partition, segment, stipend, percentage, chunk, ration, piece, lot, split, budget, portion, quota, share, slice, stake, proportion, allocation, parcel, allowance

deployment, grant, board, supply, endowment, delivery, contribution, replenishment, donation, provision

excuse, license, permission, concession, immunity, waiver, release, discharge, amnesty, pardon, stay, dismissal, exemption, absolution, exception, relief, privilege, reprieve, liberty, freedom

Usage examples:

• People who are asked to the wedding send cards to the house if they cannot attend, and in any case send or leave cards within ten days after, unless they are in very deep mourning, when a dispensation is granted them. - "Manners and Social Usages", Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood.
• It is a curious and merciful dispensation of Providence that most fathers and mothers seem never to be capable of remembering their own experience, and will probably go on till the end of time thinking of their sons of twenty and daughters of sixteen or seventeen as mere children who may be allowed to run about together as much as they please. - "Tom Brown at Oxford", Thomas Hughes.
• He uses it as the rule which is to prevail in the dispensation of his bounty in all future times. - "Select Speeches of Daniel Webster", Daniel Webster.