furnish
Americanverb (used with object)
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furnishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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furnished,
past participle, past
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furnishing
present participle
noun
verb
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to provide (a house, room, etc) with furniture, carpets, etc
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to equip with what is necessary; fit out
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to give; supply
the records furnished the information required
Synonym Usage
Furnish, appoint, equip all refer to providing something necessary. Furnish emphasizes the idea of providing necessary or customary services or appliances in living quarters: to furnish board; a room meagerly furnished with a bed, desk, and a wooden chair. Appoint, a more formal word now usually used in the past participle appointed, means to furnish completely with all requisites or accessories or in an elegant style: a well-appointed house. Equip means to supply with necessary materials or apparatus for some service, action, or undertaking; it emphasizes preparation: to equip a vessel, a soldier.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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furnishernoun
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overfurnishverb (used with object)
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prefurnishverb (used with object)
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refurnishverb (used with object)
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underfurnishverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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furnishsimple
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furnishessimple
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have furnishedperfect
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has furnishedperfect
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am furnishingprogressive
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are furnishingprogressive
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is furnishingprogressive
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have been furnishingperfect progressive
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has been furnishingperfect progressive
Past
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furnishedsimple
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had furnishedperfect
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was furnishingprogressive
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were furnishingprogressive
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had been furnishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of furnish
1400–50; late Middle English furnisshen, from Old French furniss-, long stem of furnir “to accomplish, furnish,” from Germanic; compare Old High German frumjan “to provide”
Explanation
If you provide something needed, you furnish it. You can furnish an answer to a question in an interview, furnish the snacks at a party, or furnish a room by filling it with couches and chairs. Just as furniture fills a room or a building, to furnish is to fill a need. Another word for furnish is "provide." A furnace furnishes heat (try saying that ten times fast). A job furnishes you with an income. Your parents furnish you with a place to live, furniture included.
Vocabulary lists containing furnish
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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:
In addition to checking off my goals, I was also heavily encouraged to shop for my bird’s closet, furnish his apartment, and complete the in-app quests.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
In 1995, it launched the Imagination Library program to furnish children under the age of five with free books on a monthly basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Unlike many of his prime ministerial predecessors, MacDonald - the son of a farm labourer and housemaid - was not independently wealthy and had less money to furnish Downing Street.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
I used one in my neighborhood to unload things I couldn’t sell and to furnish the new apartment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Sir, the shape of my jaw alone could furnish enough talk for a whole of your symposiums.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
It also furnishes Ukraine’s military with battlefield intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
It leases units from property owners, furnishes the apartments and then rents the units to tenants and businesses that need long-term housing for their workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2025
A new study by doctors at LMU University Hospital furnishes answers which could be incorporated into patient treatment.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
“Not just for souvenir hunters. Serious and rigorous, the book furnishes a gimlet-eyed glimpse of San Francisco’s continuing struggles — and what lies beneath them.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
Vetch furnishes essential spring forage for bees before the alfalfa is in bloom, tiding them over this early season so that they are ready to pollinate the alfalfa.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
In Cardiff a 100% premium applies to furnished properties that are not anyone's sole or main residence.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
The “living room” was furnished with what appeared to be a bookshelf, plants, a coffee table, an armchair, a desk chair and even paintings on the walls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Mike Shell, chief investment officer of Shell Capital, said that he has seen data furnished by his prime brokers that suggest this latest momentum liquidation is closer to its end than its beginning.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
The courtly federal judge John Minor Wisdom of New Orleans, a champion of Deep South desegregation, furnished a model in judicious temperament.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The Ellsbergs furnished their new living room with a white couch and wicker chairs with colorful cushions.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Spending at furniture and home furnishing stores grew 1% from the previous month after falling 1.5% in April.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Chloe Haynes , 21, was found dead in her room at The Britannia Adelphi Hotel in September 2022 after she was trapped under the heavy furnishing.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
The furniture retailer missed first-quarter earnings estimates, though CEO Niraj Shah asserted the company had outperformed the broader home furnishing category amid “a choppy start to the year.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
A popular lender backed by venture capital firms is struggling financially, sending shock waves through the small clothing and home furnishing companies that count on its financing.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
“I quite approve of your plan of furnishing a bit of the house first & getting into it how we can & then furnishing at our leisure,” she wrote.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
