provide

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Borrowed from Latin prōvideō (“I foresee, I act with foresight”). Doublet of purvey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈvaɪd/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -aɪd

Verb

1. To make a living; earn money for necessities.

   It is difficult to provide for my family working on minimum wage.

2. To act to prepare for something.
3. To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate.

   The contract provides that the work be well done.

   I'll lend you the money, provided that you pay it back by Monday.

4. To give what is needed or desired, especially basic needs.

   Don't bother bringing equipment, as we will provide it.

   We aim to provide the local community with more green spaces.

   • 2006, Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 320:

     Humans provided the animals with food and protection in exchange for which the animals provided the humans their milk, eggs, and—yes—their flesh.

5. To furnish (with), cause to be present.
   • (Can we date this quote by Arbuthnot and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Rome […] was well provided with corn.

6. To make possible or attainable.

   He provides us with an alternative option.

   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Bring me berries, or such cooling fruit / As the kind, hospitable woods provide.

7. (obsolete, Latinism) To foresee.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

8. To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See provisor.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prescott to this entry?)

Usage notes

As seen in the examples, when not used with that for previous conditions, provide is used with the prepositions for (beneficiary; also without preposition, usual for pronouns) and with (object).

Derived terms

• provider

Related terms

• provision

Translations

to give what is needed or desired

• Afrikaans: voorsien (af)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: proveir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 供給／供给 (zh) (gōngjǐ), 供给 (zh) (gōngjǐ)

• Czech: poskytnout (cs)
• Danish: forsørge
• Dutch: voorzien (van) (nl)
• Esperanto: provizi
• Finnish: tarjota (fi)
• French: fournir (fr), procurer (fr)
• Galician: prover
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: sorgen (de), den Unterhalt sichern, besorgen (de), beschaffen (de), heranschaffen, versorgen (de)
• Greek: παρέχω (el) (parécho)

  Ancient Greek: παρέχω (parékhō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: nyújt (hu), biztosít (hu), ad (hu), szolgáltat (hu), ellát (hu), gondoskodik (hu)
• Italian: soddisfare (it)
• Japanese: 供給する (ja) (きょうきゅうする, kyōkyū suru)
• Khmer: ផ្ដល់ (km) (pdɑl)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian Bokmål: forsørge
• Norwegian Nynorsk: forsyte
• Occitan: provesir (oc)
• Polish: dostarczać (pl), dostarczyć (pl)
• Portuguese: prover (pt)
• Russian: обеспе́чивать (ru) impf (obespéčivatʹ), обеспе́чить (ru) pf (obespéčitʹ)
• Spanish: proveer (es)
• Swedish: förse (sv), försörja (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: забезпе́чувати (zabezpéčuvaty), надава́ти (uk) (nadaváty)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to establish as a previous condition

• Danish: forudsætte
• Finnish: edellyttää (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: voraussetzen (de), vorsehen (de)
• Hungarian: rendelkezik (hu), megszab (hu), kiköt (hu)

to furnish (with)

• Afrikaans: voorsien (af)
• Arabic: زَوَّدَ (zawwada)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 供給／供给 (zh) (gōngjǐ), 供给 (zh) (gōngjǐ)

• Danish: forsyne
• Dutch: voorzien (nl)
• Finnish: varustaa (fi)
• French: pourvoir (fr)
• Galician: prover
• German: versehen (de), versorgen (de), ausstatten (de)
• Hebrew: לספק (he) (lesapek)
• Hungarian: ellát (hu), felszerel (hu), beszerez (hu), biztosít (hu), nyújt (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: provvedere (it)
• Japanese: 供給する (ja) (きょうきゅうする, kyōkyū suru)
• Korean: 공급하다 (ko) (gonggeuphada)
• Latin: video (la)
• Maori: whakarato
• Portuguese: prover (pt)
• Russian: обеспе́чивать (ru) impf (obespéčivatʹ), обеспе́чить (ru) pf (obespéčitʹ), снабжа́ть (ru) impf (snabžátʹ), снабди́ть (ru) pf (snabdítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: opskrbiti (sh), obezbediti (sh), obezbijediti (sh)
• Spanish: proveer (es)
• Swedish: förse (sv)

Anagrams

• prevoid

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Galician

Alternative forms

• provinde

Verb

provide

1. second-person plural imperative of provir

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Italian

Verb

provide

1. third-person singular past historic of provedere

Anagrams

• deprivo, deprivò
• provedi

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Latin

Etymology

From prōvidus (“prophetic, prudent, cautious”) +‎ -ē, from prōvideō (“foresee, be cautious”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈproː.u̯i.deː/, [ˈproːu̯ɪd̪eː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpro.vi.de/, [ˈprɔːvid̪e]

Adverb

prōvidē (comparative prōvidius, superlative prōvidissimē)

1. carefully, prudently

Verb

(deprecated template usage) prōvidē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of prōvideō

Noun

(deprecated template usage) prōvide

1. singular vocative of prōvidus

References

• “provide”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• provide in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.