Showing results for provide.

Synonyms

provide

American

[pruh-vahyd] / prəˈvaɪd /

verb (used with object)

to make available; furnish.

to provide employees with various benefits.

Synonyms:

render, give
to supply or equip.

to provide the army with new fighter planes.
to afford or yield.

Synonyms:

produce
Law. to arrange for or stipulate beforehand, as by a provision or proviso.
Archaic. to prepare or procure beforehand.

verb (used without object)

to take measures with due foresight (usually followed by for oragainst ).
to make arrangements for supplying means of support, money, etc. (usually followed byfor ).

He provided for his children in his will.
to supply means of support (often followed byfor ).

to provide for oneself.

provide British

/ prəˈvaɪd /

verb

to put at the disposal of; furnish or supply
to afford; yield

this meeting provides an opportunity to talk
(intr; often foll by for or against) to take careful precautions (over)

he provided against financial ruin by wise investment
to supply means of support (to), esp financially

he provides for his family
(in statutes, documents, etc) to determine (what is to happen in certain contingencies), esp by including a proviso condition
to confer and induct into ecclesiastical offices
rare to have or get in store

in summer many animals provide their winter food

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

Where does provide come from? For many, the word provide might conjure up tangible objects you can hand over, like food, supplies, goods, or money. Provide may also bring to mind less concrete things that can nevertheless be given or furnished, such as answers or solutions or responses. So, it might surprise you to learn that the root of provide isn’t about the sense of touch—but vision. Provide entered English around 1375–1425. It comes from the Latin prōvidēre, meaning “to foresee, look after, provide for.” The underlying idea of this verb is seeing something at a distance or beforehand, and when you can see something coming, you can make arrangements and prepare supplies for it. We call such arrangements and supplies provisions, a word that is also derived from prōvidēre. The Latin prōvidēre is composed of two parts. The first part is prō-, a widely used prefix based on the preposition prō, meaning “before, in front of.” The second part is vidēre, meaning “to see, look at.”Prō- appears in many words English borrowed from Latin, such as these verbs:

The verb vidēre is the ultimate source of a lot of English words, many of which entered English through French. Some more familiar derivatives include view, video, vision, visual, visit, and vista. Other derivatives are less obvious and even surprising:

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of provide

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English providen, Latin prōvidēre “to foresee, look after, provide for,” equivalent to prō- pro- ¹ + vidēre “to see”; cf. video ( def. )

Explanation

To provide means to give or supply. When you stay in a bed and breakfast, the innkeeper will generally provide you with a meal in the morning as part of the price of the room. The verb provide generally means to make available or even to allow. The Constitution, for example, provides for protected freedom of speech. But you've probably also heard people talking about getting a job to provide for their family — in that case, to provide means to make money to pay for food and bills, or in other words, bring home the bacon.

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Vocabulary lists containing provide

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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:

provide provides provided providing

Dog sniffs could provide an easy and affordable first layer of screening to be deployed at scale, finding potential cases for further testing.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Customers will be asked to provide their bank details through their personal tax account.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

They are widely used because they provide sweetness while often supplying fewer calories than ordinary sugar.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

The official declined to provide details but said those plans would be announced “in the coming weeks.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Instead I tried to provide them with a good life and make up for the loss of their dad.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Rodriguez told the Tribune that the DPS network provides a needed crime-fighting tool in areas hostile to Flock cameras and similar devices.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

The Greenaway Foundation provides families in Kent, Sussex and Surrey with ingredients for a two-course Christmas dinner to help with the costs of the festive season.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

At the same time, it provides less care to Medi-Cal patients than its sister university health systems: UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco and UC Davis, according to university statistics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

By showing in molecular detail how RNA polymerase reads and transcribes non-natural DNA letters, the new research provides an important foundation for technologies built around expanded genetic codes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026

Federal law provides that a child-support enforcement officer can garnish up to 65 percent of an individual’s wages for child support.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

The German government is the largest single donor to Ukraine and the UK is known to have provided Kyiv with missiles used to strike inside Russian territory.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Authorities in Trishuli Bazaar had not provided an evacuation plan, Dawadi said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

Last March's 3-0 win for Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium provided the platform for the visitors' survival bid while leaving Spurs floundering until the final day.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Measurements of angular magnetoresistance provided additional information about the material.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026

It provided a shield, preventing radiation from escaping, and it also cooled the rods.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Thousands of families saved money on school uniforms this summer through a charity scheme providing pre-loved and donated clothing for free.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

“We hoped that providing data around how much someone saves using a public service would give patrons a sense of ownership to utilize their local library,” Lipinski told me.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

Academi Adra scheme was established in 2021 with the aim of providing young people with skills and experience in the workplace, offering courses in construction.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

He added that with the university’s expansion of clinics, “we are providing substantial specialty care to Medi-Cal and Medicare patients” throughout L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

A huge percent of the wealth created in America today comes not from manufacturing, but from providing services.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023