provision
Syllables: pro·vi·sion/pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/
provision noun: an item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use.
Noun
provision (countable and uncountable, plural provisions)
- An item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use.
- [H]e hath preſerued all points of Humanity, in taking Order, and making Proviſion for the Releefe of Strangers diſtreſſed; whereof you have taſted.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn]...
- [Noah] Began to build a Veſſel of huge bulk, / Meaſur'd by Cubit, length, and breadth, and highth, / Smeared round with Pitch, and in the ſide a dore, / Contriv'd, and of proviſions laid in large / For Man and Beaſt: [...]1674, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 307
- The act of providing, or making previous preparation.
- Fiue dayes we do allot thee for prouision,
To shield thee from disasters of the world,c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Fiue dayes we do allot thee for prouision,
- Money set aside for a future event.
- And as congressional Republicans were passing a very unpopular Trump agenda bill last month, Vice President JD Vance argued that its historic expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and new immigration enforcement provisions were so important that “everything else” was “immaterial.”2025 July 13, Aaron Blake, “Trump’s mass deportation is backfiring”, in CNN
- A liability or contra account to recognise likely future adverse events associated with current transactions.
- We increased our provision for bad debts on credit sales going into the recession.
- A clause in a legal instrument, a law, etc., providing for a particular matter; stipulation; proviso.
- An arrest shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
- Almost half of MEPs wanted to remove the new provisions' to expand the use of megatrucks but an amendment to do that failed to pass by just six votes.2024 March 12, ETSC, ETSC
- Synonyms:
- condition, disposition, stipulation
- Regular induction into a benefice, comprehending nomination, collation, and installation.
- A nomination by the pope to a benefice before it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of presentation.
- a papal provision1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
Verb
provision (third-person singular simple present provisions, present participle provisioning, simple past and past participle provisioned)
- To supply with provisions.
- to provision an army
- We had soon touched land in the same place as before and set to provision the blockhouse. All three made the first journey, heavily laden, and tossed our stores over the palisade.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC
- To supply (a user) with an account, resources, etc. so that they can use a system; to install the necessary software on a bare-bones system so it can be used for a specific purpose.
- A solution is to provision new systems on a private network where they can receive updates, patches, and secure configurations from an internal repository before being placed into a production network.2023, Kenneth Hess, Practical Linux System Administration, O'Reilly, →ISBN
- Antonyms:
- deprovision
provision meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
provision in Hindi
- provision
- प्रावधान prāvdhān
- provision, wage, stake
- शर्त śart
provision in Tamil
- வழிவகுப்பு, வழிவகை, ஏற்பாடு, முன்னேற்பாடு, ஒதுக்கீடு, பலசரக்கு
provision in Marathi
- तरतूद
provision in Urdu
- provision, wage
- شرط śart
- provision, accumulation, supply
- تودہ toda
More languagesFewer languages
- provision in Bengali
- বিধান bidhan
- provision in Telugu
- సంకేతం saṅkētaṁ
- provision in Malayalam
- വ്യവസ്ഥ, ഏർപ്പാട്, ഭക്ഷണസാധനം, സംഭരണം
- provision in Kannada
- ಒದಗಣೆ, ಸರಬರಾಜು, ಒದಗಿಸುವುದು, ಬೇಕಾದ್ದು
- provision in Punjabi
- ਵਿਵਸਥਾ vivsathā
- provision in Gujarati
- જોગવાઈ, જોગવાઇ
- provision in Sanskrit
- खाद्य khādya
- provision in Nepali
- प्रावधान
- provision in Malay
- peruntukan
- provision in Indonesian
- penyediaan, provisi
Examples of provision in a sentence
- We have an infirm ſhip's company, and but five months proviſion, which muſt ſerve us to China unleſs we get a ſupply at Guam.1728 [1721 March 17], William Betagh, A Voyage Round the World. Being an Account of a Remarkable Enterprize, Begun In the Year 1719...
- An emancipated slave must be provisioned by the master.2001, David L. Lieber, Jules Harlow, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, page 85:
Synonyms of provision
Antonyms
Forms of provision
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | provisions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | provisions |
| present participle | provisioning |
| past participle | provisioned |
| past | provisioned |
Origin of provision
From Middle English provisioun, from Old French provisïon, from Latin prōvīsiō (“preparation, foresight”), from prōvidēre (“provide”).
Words formed from provision
Phrases with provision
Questions about provision
- What does provision mean?
- Provision means an item of goods or supplies, especially food, obtained for future use.
- What is provision in Hindi?
- Provision in Hindi is प्रावधान (prāvdhān), शर्त (śart). See Provision meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use provision in a sentence?
- We have an infirm ſhip's company, and but five months proviſion, which muſt ſerve us to China unleſs we get a ſupply at Guam.
- What part of speech is provision?
- Provision can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce provision?
- Provision is pronounced /pɹəˈvɪʒ.ən/.
- What is the plural of provision?
- The plural of provision is provisions.
Words near provision in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: provision (page history and authors); प्रावधान (Hindi) (page history and authors); provision (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); provision (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); تودہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); বিধান (Bengali) (page history and authors); సంకేతం (Telugu) (page history and authors); provision (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); provision (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਵਿਵਸਥਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); provision (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); provision (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-provision.ogg.
Cite this entry: “provision.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/provision. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.