equipment

American  

[ih-kwip-muhnt] / ɪˈkwɪp mənt /

noun

1. anything kept, furnished, or provided for a specific purpose.

   Synonyms:

   accouterment, paraphernalia, apparatus

2. the act of equipping a person or thing.

3. the state of being equipped.

4. the personal knowledge and skill required for a task, occupation, etc..

   He has the necessary equipment for law.

5. the rolling stock of a railroad.

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equipment British  

/ ɪˈkwɪpmənt /

noun

1. an act or instance of equipping

2. the items so provided

3. a set of tools, devices, kit, etc, assembled for a specific purpose, such as a soldier's kit and weapons

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Other Word Forms

• preequipment noun
• reequipment noun

Etymology

Origin of equipment

First recorded in 1710–20; equip + -ment

Example Sentences

A boatswain on a merchant ship, who supervises the deck’s seamen and manages equipment like ropes and cables, can earn nearly $5,200 a month.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

They will also provide equipment including magnets and sieves for the citizen scientists.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Infrastructure refers to the likes of physical servers and virtual machines, while assets refers, for example, to laptops, printers, network equipment and software.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Koch, for instance, sleeps "suspended like a bat" while Glover fits himself into a narrow nook between space equipment and the ceiling of the spacecraft.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

Had the smoke from the wildfire somehow messed up the plane’s equipment and made it impossible for the pilot to see?

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Related Words

• apparatus
• furnishings
• furniture
• machinery
• material