Synonyms

provide

American

[pruh-vahyd] / prəˈvaɪd /

verb (used with object)

to make available; furnish.

to provide employees with various benefits.

Synonyms:

render, give
to supply or equip.

to provide the army with new fighter planes.
to afford or yield.

Synonyms:

produce
Law. to arrange for or stipulate beforehand, as by a provision or proviso.
Archaic. to prepare or procure beforehand.

verb (used without object)

to take measures with due foresight (usually followed by for oragainst ).
to make arrangements for supplying means of support, money, etc. (usually followed byfor ).

He provided for his children in his will.
to supply means of support (often followed byfor ).

to provide for oneself.

provide British

/ prəˈvaɪd /

verb

to put at the disposal of; furnish or supply
to afford; yield

this meeting provides an opportunity to talk
(intr; often foll by for or against) to take careful precautions (over)

he provided against financial ruin by wise investment
to supply means of support (to), esp financially

he provides for his family
(in statutes, documents, etc) to determine (what is to happen in certain contingencies), esp by including a proviso condition
to confer and induct into ecclesiastical offices
rare to have or get in store

in summer many animals provide their winter food

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

Where does provide come from? For many, the word provide might conjure up tangible objects you can hand over, like food, supplies, goods, or money. Provide may also bring to mind less concrete things that can nevertheless be given or furnished, such as answers or solutions or responses. So, it might surprise you to learn that the root of provide isn’t about the sense of touch—but vision. Provide entered English around 1375–1425. It comes from the Latin prōvidēre, meaning “to foresee, look after, provide for.” The underlying idea of this verb is seeing something at a distance or beforehand, and when you can see something coming, you can make arrangements and prepare supplies for it. We call such arrangements and supplies provisions, a word that is also derived from prōvidēre. The Latin prōvidēre is composed of two parts. The first part is prō-, a widely used prefix based on the preposition prō, meaning “before, in front of.” The second part is vidēre, meaning “to see, look at.”Prō- appears in many words English borrowed from Latin, such as these verbs:

The verb vidēre is the ultimate source of a lot of English words, many of which entered English through French. Some more familiar derivatives include view, video, vision, visual, visit, and vista. Other derivatives are less obvious and even surprising:

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of provide

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English providen, Latin prōvidēre “to foresee, look after, provide for,” equivalent to prō- pro- ¹ + vidēre “to see”; cf. video ( def. )

Explanation

To provide means to give or supply. When you stay in a bed and breakfast, the innkeeper will generally provide you with a meal in the morning as part of the price of the room. The verb provide generally means to make available or even to allow. The Constitution, for example, provides for protected freedom of speech. But you've probably also heard people talking about getting a job to provide for their family — in that case, to provide means to make money to pay for food and bills, or in other words, bring home the bacon.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing provide

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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:

provide provides provided providing

But, having recovered to reach career-best fitness, the next three years now provide him with the opportunity to cement himself among the all-time greats.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

In July, they moved to Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas, to make it easier to get to a grandchild, in case they need to provide emergency babysitting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

The approach could provide a new way to reuse difficult waste while also helping produce food in places where conventional supplies are limited.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

It was an unusually intense mobilization around an ingredient whose primary job is ordinarily to provide a little cold crunch between seasoned beef and sour cream.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

The station they had established above Coldwater Creek seemed too far away to provide a timely warning of eruption.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

By linking observations from afar with laboratory chemistry and future spacecraft measurements, the research provides a new path toward solving one of Venus's longest-standing mysteries.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

It was Sabalenka's fifth defeat from nine majors final and provides further weight to the argument that she has underachieved at the biggest tournaments given her dominance on the WTA Tour.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

That’s where I’m stuck, and where I’m hoping you can help: Is there any meaningful recourse against an administrator that provides essentially no notice before a network termination like this?

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 12, 2026

Lynn Nelson is president of the National Association of School Nurses, an organization that provides guidance, resources and professional development to nearly 20,000 school nurses across the country.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

And that’s what this popular app often promoted on CountDowners provides.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

The U.S. provided intelligence and targeting help and sent dozens of military advisers, the people said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The weekend also provided a platform for countries to reassess their relationships in light of the Iran war.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

“We had just one meeting with a potential developer who had some interest in it, and all the state provided was, what you can’t do, what they won’t do,” Rodriguez said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

Funding support for this study was provided by National Institutes of Health grants R01AR080796 and K01AR075111.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

His name was Paul Robinson, and he was in Kenya as part of a program that provided scholarships to African students to study in the United States.

From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola

They include providing bread everyday, without spread, and offering two portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Another war is providing fresh price shocks to fuel and food.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 13, 2026

“Even those who moved to the area for prison jobs often settled in adjacent communities, providing little direct benefit to the local economy.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

Asked whether a conclusive ultrasound image is necessary for an ectopic diagnosis, the spokesperson said, “The Board has consistently stated that providing commentary on every possible situation would be impractical.”

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

The downtown mercantile district has covered walkways that link streets and buildings, providing shade and protection from rain.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023