provide

American  

[pruh-vahyd] / prəˈvaɪd /

verb (used with object)

provided, providing

1. to make available; furnish.

   to provide employees with various benefits.

   Synonyms:

   render, give

2. to supply or equip.

   to provide the army with new fighter planes.

3. to afford or yield.

   Synonyms:

   produce

4. Law. to arrange for or stipulate beforehand, as by a provision or proviso.

5. Archaic. to prepare or procure beforehand.

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verb (used without object)

provided, providing

1. to take measures with due foresight (usually followed by for oragainst ).

2. to make arrangements for supplying means of support, money, etc. (usually followed byfor ).

   He provided for his children in his will.

3. to supply means of support (often followed byfor ).

   to provide for oneself.

provide British  

/ prəˈvaɪd /

verb

1. to put at the disposal of; furnish or supply

2. to afford; yield

   this meeting provides an opportunity to talk

3. (intr; often foll by for or against) to take careful precautions (over)

   he provided against financial ruin by wise investment

4. to supply means of support (to), esp financially

   he provides for his family

5. (in statutes, documents, etc) to determine (what is to happen in certain contingencies), esp by including a proviso condition

6. to confer and induct into ecclesiastical offices

7. rare to have or get in store

   in summer many animals provide their winter food

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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:

• procure
• produce
• prohibit
• profess
• protract
• protrude

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:

• advice
• advise
• clairvoyant
• envy
• evidence
• improvise
• invidious
• proviso
• purvey
• purview
• review
• revise
• supervise
• survey
• visa
• visage
• voyeur

Other Word Forms

• overprovide verb (used with object)
• preprovide verb (used with object)
• providable adjective
• provider noun
• unprovidable adjective

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.

Example Sentences

Robert Martinez, a public information officer with the sheriff’s office, declined to provide additional information about Waterman’s death or why he was in custody.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2026

On Friday, Amazon also announced a deal to provide Meta with tens of millions of custom Graviton chips.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 26, 2026

Their experiments focused on a specific scenario, repeated mild brain injury, and used CTE tissue to provide supporting observations rather than direct proof of cause and effect.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026

They can, however, still handle sensitive data or provide an unusual service.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

Tonight, I welcome the cover they’ll provide, whereas on any other night, I’ve feared what they hid, just out of my reach.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Related Words

• afford
• allow
• bring
• grant
• lend
• present
• produce
• render
• serve
• yield