afford
Americanverb (used with object)
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to be able to do, manage, or bear without serious consequence or adverse effect.
The country can't afford another drought.
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to be able to meet the expense of; have or be able to spare the price of.
Can we afford a trip to Europe this year? The city can easily afford to repair the street.
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to be able to give or spare.
He can't afford the loss of a day.
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The transaction afforded him a good profit.
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to be capable of yielding or providing.
The records afford no explanation.
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to give or confer upon.
to afford great pleasure to someone.
verb
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to be able to do or spare something, esp without incurring financial difficulties or without risk of undesirable consequences
we can afford to buy a small house
I can afford to give you one of my chess sets
we can't afford to miss this play
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to give, yield, or supply
the meeting afforded much useful information
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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affordsimple
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affordssimple
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have affordedperfect
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has affordedperfect
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am affordingprogressive
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are affordingprogressive
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is affordingprogressive
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have been affordingperfect progressive
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has been affordingperfect progressive
Past
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affordedsimple
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had affordedperfect
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was affordingprogressive
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were affordingprogressive
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had been affordingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of afford
First recorded before 1050; Middle English aforthen, iforthen, Old English geforthian “to further, accomplish,” equivalent to ge- y- + forth forth + -ian infinitive suffix
Explanation
To afford means you have enough money or time for something. If you only have ten dollars on you, you can't afford to buy a twenty-dollar hat. Afford is a verb that has to do with means. You either have a surplus and therefore can afford something, or else you have a deficit and can’t. It can be in the monetary sense: "$100 for cashmere socks? I can’t afford that!” It can also refer to time: “Since my train wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour, I could afford to wait for my sister ten more minutes.” Or even access: “The castle walls afforded a wonderful view of the moat.”
Vocabulary lists containing afford
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Purple Hibiscus
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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:
"It hits those who can afford it least the most," she said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
I want to be able to afford a ticket and go to games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
When your interest bill crowds out everything else, you cannot afford to defend your currency with expensive rates.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
My parents couldn’t afford private school, so I took the admissions test for Stuyvesant, one of the city’s finest public high schools.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
With the Soviet threat as great as it was, our nation could not afford to exclude anyone from the workforce.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Major cities throughout the States have seen crushing drops in Canadian tourism and business it affords to costly enterprises like ski resorts.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
“The data affords patience for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Even so, it is the act of assembling disparate icons and references into resonant wholes that affords Saar’s sculptures and tableaux their personal and political import.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The more Mary affords grace to others, the more she gains confidence in who she is, as a person with a strong moral compass forged away from her mother’s ambitions.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
After welcoming their sisters, they triumphantly displayed a table set out with such cold meat as an inn larder usually affords, exclaiming, “Is not this nice? Is not this an agreeable surprise?”
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
“GEO ensures detainees are afforded the necessary tools, equipment, and personal protective equipment ... to safely and effectively perform any necessary tasks,” the settlement states.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Mr. Beck derided the “Douglas Factors” that ensure consideration is given on adverse actions that discipline is afforded commensurate with the actions of each employee and not done with disparate influence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Ezri Konsa: Part of a back four that has not looked convincing throughout this tournament, with questions about the amount of space that has been afforded when the opposition attacks.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
It first lays out protections afforded to LPRs, declaring that they “shall not” be compelled to prove that they satisfy the requirements for legal entry “unless” one of six exceptions applies.
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026
How they afforded a place in the suburbs, I couldn’t guess.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
In Jackson’s words, “Congress could not have meant for the guarantees it was affording to be so cavalierly swept aside.”
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026
Sixty-eight percent of New Yorkers have experienced issues with affording healthcare, and 66% have delayed or gone without care due to cost.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 23, 2026
However, one could reasonably expect an AI-related positive productivity shock to further lift the nominal equilibrium rate, affording the Fed time to wait out the latest round of supply shocks and inflationary pressure.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
Hughes, who is in year four of an eight-year, $64 million contract with the New Jersey Devils of the NHL, has no worries about affording the best care possible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
He waited on one of the benches affording a view of the gazebo and the musicians.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
