furnish
Americanverb (used with object)
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furnishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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furnished,
past participle, past
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furnishing
present participle
noun
verb
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to provide (a house, room, etc) with furniture, carpets, etc
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to equip with what is necessary; fit out
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to give; supply
the records furnished the information required
Synonym Usage
Furnish, appoint, equip all refer to providing something necessary. Furnish emphasizes the idea of providing necessary or customary services or appliances in living quarters: to furnish board; a room meagerly furnished with a bed, desk, and a wooden chair. Appoint, a more formal word now usually used in the past participle appointed, means to furnish completely with all requisites or accessories or in an elegant style: a well-appointed house. Equip means to supply with necessary materials or apparatus for some service, action, or undertaking; it emphasizes preparation: to equip a vessel, a soldier.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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furnishernoun
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overfurnishverb (used with object)
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prefurnishverb (used with object)
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refurnishverb (used with object)
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underfurnishverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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furnishsimple
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furnishessimple
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have furnishedperfect
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has furnishedperfect
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am furnishingprogressive
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are furnishingprogressive
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is furnishingprogressive
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have been furnishingperfect progressive
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has been furnishingperfect progressive
Past
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furnishedsimple
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had furnishedperfect
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was furnishingprogressive
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were furnishingprogressive
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had been furnishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of furnish
1400–50; late Middle English furnisshen, from Old French furniss-, long stem of furnir “to accomplish, furnish,” from Germanic; compare Old High German frumjan “to provide”
Explanation
If you provide something needed, you furnish it. You can furnish an answer to a question in an interview, furnish the snacks at a party, or furnish a room by filling it with couches and chairs. Just as furniture fills a room or a building, to furnish is to fill a need. Another word for furnish is "provide." A furnace furnishes heat (try saying that ten times fast). A job furnishes you with an income. Your parents furnish you with a place to live, furniture included.
Vocabulary lists containing furnish
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In addition to checking off my goals, I was also heavily encouraged to shop for my bird’s closet, furnish his apartment, and complete the in-app quests.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
Unlike many of his prime ministerial predecessors, MacDonald - the son of a farm labourer and housemaid - was not independently wealthy and had less money to furnish Downing Street.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“People buy homes from one company, finance them through another, furnish them through a third and renovate them with someone else,” Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Marcus Lemonis said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Those who don’t furnish one to register are supposed to present one when they vote for the first time in a federal election, though this requirement isn’t strictly enforced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
To test the distance of the spiral nebulae, a class of intrinsically much brighter variable stars was needed to furnish a new standard candle.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
The dating test furnishes a neat illustration: three profiles—identical in every respect except astrological sign, all showing the same picture of a young man named “Michael”—were created on a popular Chinese dating app.
From Slate ● May 5, 2026
It also furnishes Ukraine’s military with battlefield intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
This non-invasive method furnishes direct, semiquantitative evidence of amyloid deposits in the brain.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
The data indicate that half of this capacity is in the poorest quarter of Los Angeles, while the wealthiest 10% of the city furnishes less than 1%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
Recent history furnishes innumerable examples as Europeans expanded to other continents.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Last week, the Indonesian ombudsman's office said an inspection had uncovered a cluster of indulgently furnished apartments inhabited by inmates on the grounds of the Cibinong prison in Bogor, south of the capital.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
However, should a potential buyer take a liking to the interior decor elements, there is an option to purchase the property fully furnished for an additional $400,000.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
My brain furnished the room immediately: C-suite office.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The information Lyalin furnished helped persuade the British government to move forward with a planned expulsion of 105 Soviet government employees from London, nearly 20% of the bloated Soviet presence in the British capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
“I beg your pardon,” offered Edna, in some embarrassment, for she should have remembered that Mademoiselle Reisz’s avoidance of the water had furnished a theme for much pleasantry.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
In Germany, more than 1,500 products will have their prices lowered by an average of 20%, while in the U.K., prices will be reduced on hundreds of home furnishing products and accessories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The furniture retailer missed first-quarter earnings estimates, though CEO Niraj Shah asserted the company had outperformed the broader home furnishing category amid “a choppy start to the year.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
He shared a video of a high school which he said had been deteriorating rapidly, saying the meme-coin would help support its "rebuilding and furnishing" and give "students a chance for a better future".
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025
A popular lender backed by venture capital firms is struggling financially, sending shock waves through the small clothing and home furnishing companies that count on its financing.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
We also hired Michael Smith, a talented interior designer we’d found through a Chicago friend, to help us with furnishing and redecorating the residence and the Oval Office.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
