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say it: pruh-VAHYD
provide is a verb meaning "give something useful or necessary to". It carries 7 recorded senses.
determine (what is to happen in certain contingencies), especially by including a proviso condition or stipulation
“The will provides that each child should receive half of the money”
“The Constitution provides for the right to free speech”
make a possibility or provide opportunity for; permit to be attainable or cause to remain
“This leaves no room for improvement”
“The evidence allows only one conclusion”
“allow for mistakes”
“leave lots of time for the trip”
“This procedure provides for lots of leeway”
supply means of subsistence; earn a living
“He provides for his large family by working three jobs”
“Women nowadays not only take care of the household but also bring home the bacon”
take measures in preparation for
“provide for the proper care of the passengers on the cruise ship”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for provide come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.