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:
I used one in my neighborhood to unload things I couldn’t sell and to furnish the new apartment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 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
In 2021, more than a year after I had stopped seeing clients in person in rented offices due to the pandemic, I had the opportunity to furnish and decorate my own home office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
We were champion racers, and my parents invested heavily in the cars—to the point that they didn’t fully furnish our living room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
“He said there was a man in Albuquerque who also worked at Los Alamos and who was ready to furnish me with information.”
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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
A new study by doctors at LMU University Hospital furnishes answers which could be incorporated into patient treatment.
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
Vetch furnishes essential spring forage for bees before the alfalfa is in bloom, tiding them over this early season so that they are ready to pollinate the alfalfa.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
"We usually rent newer houses that are a blank canvas so we can make them our own, although this last season the accommodation was provided furnished by Argyle," she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Mike Shell, chief investment officer of Shell Capital, said that he has seen data furnished by his prime brokers that suggest this latest momentum liquidation is closer to its end than its beginning.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
At an Objectways studio, AI system trainers film themselves performing household tasks in fake, fully furnished apartment rooms.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Inside Encord’s test facility in Hayward, it has replicated a standard American home with a fully furnished living room, kitchen and bathroom.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
He stood on the threshold of a small white room furnished only with an iron bed, a cabinet, and two chairs.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
The family is still furnishing the house but has already purchased an air filter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Or you could buy yourself a $10m house every day for 250 years, and still have change for furnishing and decorating.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025
Buyers historically have spent more than renters on furniture: Owners tend to prioritize quality and cohesion, and often invest in furnishing multiple rooms.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025
The authorities charged Michael Shvartsman, 53, a Miami financier, with making $18.2 million in illicit trading profits; and his brother, 46, who owns an outdoor furnishing store in Miami, with raking in $4.6 million.
From New York Times ● Apr. 3, 2024
When he visited Olanna and Odenigbo, though, she said, “I’m sure you must want to make the place a little more habitable,” so he said “Yes,” although he liked the soulless furnishing.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
