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:
Your workplace may offer a perk where they contract with a provider for a certain amount of advice for employees — but even if that’s free for you, the adviser is still getting paid.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
That commitment gave the provider a source of guaranteed revenue, making it easier to borrow the money needed to build the infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
"I'm not cross at my mortgage provider for making me continue to pay the mortgage," Williams says.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Unlike traditional utility bills, Porter wasn’t being billed by the provider but by a third-party company — Conservice, in this case — that uses what’s called a ratio utility billing system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
At that moment a movement in the valley caught Chup’s attention, and, good provider that he was, he left the aerie to catch a pigeon.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
The NHS Alliance said the policy has led to an influx of new providers, helping to reduce some of the longest waits for adults and children, but at a cost.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Nvidia told some providers that they could rent the chips only to approved customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
"Patients and their healthcare providers should consider this finding as part of broader efforts to promote healthier dietary choices."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
And although 85 percent of Americans still get health information from healthcare providers, 4 in 10 adults—and more than half of women age 18 to 49—also get it from influencers or podcasters.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026
Health-care delivery is what doctors now do, along with hospitals and the other professionals who work with doctors, now known collectively as the health providers.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
