furnish

[fur-nish]

verb (used with object)

1. to supply (a house, room, etc.) with necessary furniture, carpets, appliances, etc.

   Synonyms: outfit, rig

2. to provide or supply (often followed bywith ).

   The delay furnished me with the time I needed.

   Synonyms: outfit, rig

noun

1. paper pulp and any ingredients added to it prior to its introduction into a papermaking machine.

furnish

/ ˈfɜːnɪʃ /

verb

1. to provide (a house, room, etc) with furniture, carpets, etc

2. to equip with what is necessary; fit out

3. to give; supply

   the records furnished the information required

Other Word Forms

• furnisher noun
• overfurnish verb (used with object)
• prefurnish verb (used with object)
• refurnish verb (used with object)
• underfurnish verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of furnish¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of furnish¹

C15: from Old French fournir , of Germanic origin; related to Old High German frummen to carry out

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The pair said they were worried about the potential fire hazard caused by the rubbish, with the detritus outside the property including soft furnishings and abandoned gas canisters.

Read more on BBC

Unlike short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, Sonder leased its properties, furnished the units, then rented them to guests for days or weeks at a time.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

One woman passed out flyers for a furnished studio in downtown L.A. with air conditioning, a Murphy bed, an in-unit washer and dryer and streaming TV.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Do you expect to equally split the cost of these new furnishings?

Read more on MarketWatch

She stared, fascinated, at the strange rock formations that furnished this stony room.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• afford 
• dispense 
• hand over 
• provide 
• turn over