Definition of "dispensation"

Shall we not accompt theſe a part of Gods dispenſation, and therefore good in the Fountaine, from whence they flowed

1625, George Sandys, Sacrae heptades

Bowman certainly lost no time in travelling south to obtain his dispensation once he had published the sermon

2016, Robert D. Cornwall, William Gibson, Religion, Politics and Dissent

The sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ introduced the dispensation of pure grace—which means undeserved favor, or God GIVING righteousness, instead of God REQUIRING righteousness, as under Law. […] The first event in the closing of this dispensation will be the descent of the Lord from Heaven, when sleeping saints will be raised and, together with believers then living, caught up “to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.

1888, C. I. Scofield, “The Seven Dispensations”, in Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15): Ten Outline Studies of The More Important Divisions of Scripture‎, Second edition (Religion), Philadelphia, Penn.: Philadelphia School of the Bible, published 1923, pages 23, 24

Special grounds for giving dispensation to see classified documents include research purposes.

2003, J. Abraham, H. Lawton Smith, Helen Lawton Smith, Regulation of the Pharmaceutical Industry