to supply with whatever gear or apparatus is needed for use or for any undertaking; fit out, as a ship or army.
They spent several thousand dollars to equip their boat.
to provide with intellectual or emotional resources; prepare.
Education and travel have equipped her to deal with all sorts of people.
to dress; array.
He equipped himself in all his finery.
to furnish with (necessary supplies, etc)
(usually passive) to provide with abilities, understanding, etc
her son was never equipped to be a scholar
to dress out; attire
See furnish.
First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French equiper, Old French esquiper “to fit out, equip,” probably from Old Norse skipa “to put in order, arrange, man (a ship)”
To equip means to provide something needed for a particular purpose. If you’re planning a trip to the Arctic, you should equip yourself with warm clothes, tents, and two-way radios. You might want to equip someone with an ice axe for ice climbing and a diving watch for underwater excursions. The ice axe or the diving watch is their equipment. Equip can also be used in a more figurative sense. If you are supposed to write computer programs but have never worked with a computer, you might say that you are not equipped for that. On a really bad day, it might feel like people are not equipped to deal with each other politely.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some advocacy groups, like Access Living, Equip for Equality and Legal Aid Chicago offer free consultations and can provide insights and strategies to help you effectively communicate with your landlord.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
"Disordered eating combined with a co-occurring medical condition is a complicated mix," says Rui Tanimura, MS, RD, CYT, a registered dietitian at the virtual eating disorder treatment company Equip.
From Salon • Jul. 23, 2023
Today, she works as a lead peer mentor at Equip, a nationwide telehealth eating disorder program, helping people of all backgrounds achieve recovery.
From Slate • May 15, 2023
First, Andy had to sit in his driving position, in a bead bag provided by Real Equip.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2015
Equip us with all needful armour for our daily battle.
From The Whole Armour of God by Jowett, John Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
