# provide

Pronunciation: say "pruh-VYD" /pɹəˈvaɪd/

## Verb

1. To supply or make available something that is needed or wanted, or to make something possible or attainable.
   - Simple: To give someone something they need or want, or to make it available or possible for them.
   - _The hotel provides towels and toiletries for every guest._
   - _Volunteers will provide transportation to anyone who needs a ride to the polls._
2. To supply the money, food, and other necessities that someone needs to live; (also without an object) to earn enough to support one's family.
   - Simple: To give your family or others the money, food, and things they need to live.
   - _After the divorce, he continued to provide for his children._
   - _After her husband died, she worked nights at a factory to provide for the family._
3. To establish as a condition beforehand; to stipulate.
   - Simple: To say in a rule or agreement that something must happen.
   - _The treaty provides that disputes will be settled by arbitration._
   - _Both leases provide for a penalty if rent is more than ten days late._
4. To take action ahead of time in order to prepare for something.
   - Simple: To get ready for something that may happen.
   - _Wise governments provide against famine by storing surplus grain._
   - _The committee had provided for every contingency except a power failure._

## Verb

5. To foresee; to consider or anticipate something in advance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To see or think about something before it happens.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To appoint a cleric to an ecclesiastical benefice before the current holder has vacated it.

## Origin

Latin prōvidēre, meaning "to foresee, act with foresight," gave Middle English providen, which modern English inherited. Purvey is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/provide (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).