provider
Americannoun
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providers
plural
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a person or thing that provides.
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a person who supports a family or another person.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
The takeaway: seek a genuine evaluation, rather than looking for a provider who will simply sign a form saying he is disabled.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“I said something,” she told me, describing an incident from early in her tenure at the workplace retirement, benefits and insurance provider, “and all of a sudden a 25-page deck came back.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
However, Medicare Advantage imposes restrictions such as requiring prior authorization for specialists or procedures and has limited provider networks.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
In January, Advent opened an office in Tokyo and five months later made its first direct investment in Japan with the acquisition of Japan Wellbeing, a provider of home care for the aged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Once more Nathan was sole provider for us, and we forgot the good living we had known.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Microsoft’s winning strategy doesn’t come from owning the best model, but rather routing user requests in the most efficient manner across Microsoft AI and third-party providers, according to the analyst.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Steak ’n Shake’s revamp is led by Sardar Biglari, an activist investor and conservative figure who also owns Maxim magazine, insurance providers and oil companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
The U.S. president’s naming authority extends only to federal maps and agencies; other nations — and private map providers — are not obligated to adopt the change.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
It said a particular problem was the huge variation in what was being charged by non-NHS providers.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
About the problem of trying to convince their kids never to be ashamed of who they were, while all the time hiding their own shame for not being better providers.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
