Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use afford in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Afford means to incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; (usually after an expression of ability, as could, able, difficult) to be able or rich enough; to spare. Example: “I think we can afford the extra hour it will take. We can only afford to buy a small car at the moment.”

Examples of afford by meaning

verbTo incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious...

  • I think we can afford the extra hour it will take. We can only afford to buy a small car at the moment.
  • Most of our households couldn’t afford another big bill, anyway.1993, Octavia Butler, chapter 4, in The Parable of the Sower
  • Ms Camisa and her husband have had to rejig their finances to afford tuition.2021 November 20, “Answered prayers; Catholic schools are seeing increases in enrolment for the first time in years”, in The Economist...

verbTo offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting or expending, with profit, or without too great a loss.

  • Alfred affords his goods cheaper than Bantock.

verbTo give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue.

  • Grapes afford wine. Olives afford oil. The earth affords fruit. The sea affords an abundant supply of fish.

verbTo give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish.

  • A good life affords consolation in old age.
  • It’s exhilarating because it affords writers all the freedom in the world.2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired...
  • We continue through suburban Newcastle along the edge of the Tyne, before squealing around the tight curves onto the magnificent High Level bridge, which affords glorious views across Newcastle and along the river before arriving at journey's end.2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75

More sentences with afford

  • That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?From the entry fortune
  • We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.From the entry foot
  • The only reason why I haven't gone to university is because I can't afford it.From the entry university
  • Ouch, one hundred thousand dollars for a car! I could never afford that!From the entry ouch
  • After pay day I can afford to splash some cash and buy myself a motorbike.From the entry splash
  • I used to fly business class, but now my company can only afford economy.From the entry class
  • We couldn't afford the good tickets, so we spent the flight crammed in coach.From the entry coach
  • After losing my job, there's frail hope of affording my world cruise.From the entry hope
  • The denial of medical treatment to those who cannot afford to pay is scandalous.From the entry denial
  • Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.From the entry ill
  • I spent such a lot last night (that) now I can't even afford a burger.From the entry such
  • You can't afford this house. Your PITI payment would be too high for your income.From the entry PITI payment
  • Being a person of slender means, he was unable to afford any luxuries.From the entry slender
  • I can't afford to slack. This job is all I have!From the entry slack
  • Immobility is a big problem for many people who can't afford a car.From the entry immobility
  • We're on a budget, so we can't afford to eat at that restaurant.From the entry budget
  • Before you buy a car, spend some time crunching numbers and make sure you can afford it.From the entry crunch numbers
  • He is saddled with house payments now, so he can't afford to spend more money.From the entry saddle
  • I think his comments about that new car are just sour grapes because he can't afford it.From the entry sour grapes
  • I'd love to visit Paris, but I can't afford the airfare.From the entry airfare
  • If we all chip in, we can afford to buy a pizza for lunch.From the entry chip in
  • The point at issue is whether we can afford to take on a new employee.From the entry at issue
  • We can't afford for the performance to run on for more than the specified time.From the entry run on
  • Any use would probably be an availing of the protection afforded by the passport.From the entry availing
  • He couldn't afford the expensive headphones, so he decided to settle for the lower-quality set.From the entry settle for
  • Only the better-off nations can afford to send probes into space.From the entry better-off
  • Feel not ashamed, if you can afford only PnP versions of certain games.From the entry PNP
  • I'd like to come, but the thing is, I just can't afford it.From the entry the thing is
  • Since the house was underinsured, we couldn't afford to replace most of the furniture after the fire.From the entry underinsure
  • His desk afforded him a box seat to see who spoke to whom at the watercooler.From the entry box seat
  • The vistaed mountains afforded many vantage points for photographing the lake.From the entry vistaed
  • I need a re-hair and a new bow grip but I can't afford either.From the entry bow grip

Meaning of afford

  1. verb To incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; (usually after an expression of ability, as could, able, difficult) to be able or rich enough; to spare.
  2. verb To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting or expending, with profit, or without too great a loss.
  3. verb To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue.

Full definition of afford

Questions about afford in a sentence

How do you use afford in a sentence?
Afford is used as a verb. For example: “I think we can afford the extra hour it will take. We can only afford to buy a small car at the moment.”
What is a short sentence with afford?
“Alfred affords his goods cheaper than Bantock.”
What does afford mean?
Afford means to incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; (usually after an expression of ability, as could, able, difficult) to be able or rich enough; to spare.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: afford (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use afford in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/afford. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.