provisory
Americanadjective
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containing a proviso; conditional
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another word for provisional
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making provision
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of provisory
1605–15; < Medieval Latin prōvīsōrius, equivalent to Latin prōvid-, stem of prōvidēre to provide + -tōrius -tory 1, with dt > s
Explanation
Anything that's provisory is dependent on certain conditions. Your provisory agreement to take your sister to the zoo for the day depends on her agreeing to buy you lunch. When a statement or agreement is described as provisory, that means it has certain qualifications attached to it. In other words, you'll do something, but only if a condition is met. A provisory college acceptance letter might state that it depends on your grades for the final semester of your senior year. The qualification or condition itself is known as a proviso.
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.
My feelings of safety and belonging are still highly provisory.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 21, 2020
The airline seats are arranged in a group and function as a provisory sofa for the volunteers.
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2015
To enact which provisory character, so unspeakably important, might its whole faculties but have sufficed; and so a peaceable, gradual, well-conducted Abdication and Domine-dimittas have been the issue!
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
If yet in time—ay, such provisory parenthesis was in my mind at the moment.
From The War Trail The Hunt of the Wild Horse by Reid, Mayne
The next point at which a stand was made was the assertion that the condemnation of Galileo was "provisory"; but this proved a more treacherous shelter than the others.
From History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by White, Andrew Dickson
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.
