How to Use discretionary in a Sentence

discretionary

adjective
  • At the same time a discretionary 13.5% grant scheme will be merged into the offset system.
    Patrick Frater, Variety, 9 May 2023
  • Any of this trio could also take home the discretionary Chronometry Prize too.
    Elizabeth Doerr, Robb Report, 7 Nov. 2023
  • My salary is broken up by base, bonus, and additional discretionary bonus (paid out in Q1 of each year).
    Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 20 Oct. 2023
  • Schools can buy more counselor and nurse days using their own discretionary money.
    Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Mar. 2023
  • In exchange for a hike in the debt limit until early 2025, Democrats agreed to roughly freeze discretionary spending for two years.
    David Sivak, Washington Examiner, 6 June 2023
  • In the end, total discretionary spending set by Congress is expected to come in at about $1.66 trillion for the full entire year.
    Kevin Freking, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2024
  • And of course this deal is only for discretionary spending, which is projected to be roughly balanced anyway in the long run.
    The Editors, National Review, 9 Jan. 2024
  • In Venezuela, the company can’t use piecework pay or discretionary bonuses.
    Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 19 July 2023
  • But the concierge is also armed with a discretionary budget to extend random acts of kindness to passengers.
    Chadner Navarro, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2023
  • But Williams Sonoma’s portfolio of nice-to-have brands could hurt the company if discretionary budgets get even tighter.
    Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 30 Nov. 2023
  • In fact, high levels of emotional health and discretionary effort are the two measures of the employee experience that set the best apart from the rest.
    Michael Bush, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2023
  • Quarterly profit and sales dropped to open the year as sales began to flag in March, forcing the New York department store to cut prices on clothes and other discretionary items.
    BostonGlobe.com, 1 June 2023
  • To stay on track, Anderson keeps a limited amount of cash in his wallet for discretionary expenses and writes down what it can be used for on a sticky note that stays with the cash.
    Kimberly Palmer Of Nerdwallet, Quartz, 12 Feb. 2024
  • The money, paid by taxpayers, flowed into the 5th Circuit’s discretionary fund.
    Anat Rubin, ProPublica, 4 Nov. 2023
  • The second thing is to reduce discretionary spending as much as possible.
    Vulture, 2 May 2023
  • Mind games to justify discretionary spending aren't even an option for them.
    Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 4 Dec. 2023
  • That lifted the index's consumer discretionary sector, which was up 1.3%.
    WSJ, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Medicare is a smaller program but poised to grow even faster, at three times the rate of military and other discretionary spending over the next decade, according to the May forecasts.
    Jim Tankersley, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2023
  • That change, also approved on a split vote, pushed the mayor’s discretionary spending limit from $1 million to $3 million.
    Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Sep. 2023
  • The dispute over veterans' benefits stems from the mandate in the GOP debt ceiling bill to return to the levels of discretionary spending in the fiscal year 2022 budget.
    Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 1 May 2023
  • Fourth quarter sales were difficult since the consumer cut back on discretionary spending.
    Walter Loeb, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
  • The law set the top line for discretionary spending, and there was belief that appropriation bills would have an easier time getting through the House, Womack said.
    Tracy Neal, arkansasonline.com, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Lawmakers passed the first portion of spending bills in early March, representing about 30% of discretionary spending for the year.
    Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Mitchell Gold’s closure is yet another sign of consumers’ pause in discretionary spending.
    Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN, 29 Aug. 2023
  • The number of active customers also declined as shoppers pulled back on discretionary spending and the housing market slowed.
    Jaclyn Peiser, Anchorage Daily News, 13 June 2023
  • When financial push comes to shove, discretionary spending is easier to trim than housing costs or student loan bills.
    Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 12 Dec. 2023
  • But reassessing your budget doesn’t mean cutting back on all discretionary spending long term.
    Byalicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2023
  • By giving me back small doses of discretionary time, these mindful moments improve my overall sense of wellness.
    Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu, STAT, 12 May 2023
  • Sellers of discretionary goods cashed in on surging demand during the pandemic, then ramped up prices as inflation soared.
    Time, 27 Aug. 2023
  • Still, Target and Walmart’s bottom lines were bolstered by food sales even as consumers pulled back on discretionary purchases.
    Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 2 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'discretionary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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