provider
AmericanOther Word Forms
- nonprovider noun
Etymology
Origin of provider
Explanation
A provider is a person who gives someone something they need. If your parents both have jobs so they can feed you and buy you what you need, you can call them providers. Your mom's a provider if she works so she can care for you, put food on the table, and send you to school. There are other types of providers as well, although they all give you something you need, often a service. Your school is a provider of education, and the pharmacy around the corner is a provider of medication, makeup, and magazines. It's increasingly common to call your main doctor a "primary care provider."
Vocabulary lists containing provider
Father's Day Words
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 5
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"A Raisin in the Sun," "My Father is a Simple Man," and "My Mother Pieced Quilts"
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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.
The firm was part of a group that sold endpoint data solutions provider Clario Holdings to Thermo Fisher for nearly $8.9 billion in a deal that closed in March.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026
According to David Goodyer, CEO of umbrella organisation Early Years Wales, which has 850 childcare provider members, the system is "fragmented" with a "multitude of funding pathways" that can make it difficult to navigate.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026
Germany, Kyiv's biggest provider of military aid, has been battling a surge of cyberattacks, as well as espionage and sabotage plots since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
From Barron's • Apr. 25, 2026
I knew from my work that doctors, hospitals, and laboratories typically accept vastly different prices for the exact same service, depending on what insurance provider is paying.
From Slate • Apr. 25, 2026
I ran her address into the cable service provider database.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
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.
