Definition of "entitlement" []

• The act or process of entitling. (noun)
• The state of being entitled. (noun)
• A government program that guarantees and provides benefits to a particular group: "fights . . . to preserve victories won a generation ago, like the Medicaid entitlement for the poor” ( Jason DeParle). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "David Axelrod, a strategist for the president, called Mr. Romney's use of the term "entitlement nation" deeply offensive while speaking with reporters in Manhattan."
• "We've already analyzed the Orwellian strategy behind the phrase "entitlement reform," which is a well-crafted euphemism for "cutting services for the elderly.""
• "And the term "entitlement" resonates with that word's other meaning - selfishness and the greedy assumption that one deserves to be served by others as in "he acts so entitled.""