provision

noun

pro·vi·sion | \ prə-ˈvi-zhən

Definition of provision

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : the act or process of providing

b : the fact or state of being prepared beforehand

c : a measure taken beforehand to deal with a need or contingency : preparation made provision for replacements

2 : a stock of needed materials or supplies especially : a stock of food —usually used in plural

3 : proviso, stipulation

provision

verb

pro·vi·sion | \ prə-ˈvi-zhən

provisioned; provisioning\ prə-ˈvi-zhə-niŋ

, -ˈvizh-niŋ \

Definition of provision (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to supply with needed materials (such as food) : to supply with provisions

Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about provision

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Examples of provision in a Sentence

Noun

The President, of all people, should know how difficult it is to take care of basic things like, say, prescription drugs for the elderly or shelter from the storm—especially if your government places a low priority on the efficient provision of public services and a high priority on the care and feeding of cronies … — Joe Klein, Time, 6 Feb. 2006 Nothing was overlooked. There was a fallback position, a fail-safe provision, for any contingency. — Gary Wills, New York Times Book Review, 1 Apr. 2001 They wheedled the American Congress into awarding entry terms more favorable than those enjoyed by any other state, including two unique provisions: Texas and not the federal government would own all public lands, and the state would retain forever the right to divide into five smaller states if that proved attractive, each one to have two senators and a proportionate number of representatives. — James A. Michener, Texas, 1985 Provisions should be made for regular inspections. He made provisions to donate part of his fortune to charity after he died. You should make provision for emergencies. I carried my provisions in one large backpack. We brought enough provisions to last the entire trip.

Verb

Few modern eaters consume such a wide range of plants, fruits, and animals, even when provisioned by a vast international or multi-ethnic marketplace. — Donna R. Gabaccia, We Are What We Eat, 1998 But biographies, like translations, are rarely provisioned to last forever, for they reflect the world of their authors as much as their subjects. — Morris Dickstein, New York Times Book Review, 1 Feb. 1998 As the cubs began to feed more regularly on meat, she provisioned them with hares, hyraxes, an Egyptian mongoose, and guinea fowl. — John A. Cavallo, Natural History, February 1990 They stopped to provision the ship. the climbers were sufficiently provisioned to withstand just about any mountaineering emergency

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The budget contains a provision permitting and regulating the practice. — Chris Carola, The Seattle Times, "Manhattan tolls, plastic bag ban poised for approval in NY," 30 Mar. 2019 House Republicans caved with just the whiff of industry pressure in 2017, quickly pulling such a provision from their plan. — Dylan Scott, Vox, "Is employer-sponsored insurance really a good deal for workers?," 7 Feb. 2019 In one recent win, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a provision that creates room for a third gender, X, on birth certificates. — Sophie Saint Thomas, SELF, "8 Signs a Sex Therapist Might Improve Your Life (and How to Find One)," 26 Oct. 2018 These provisions were in the original bill that the House passed in February, but they were cut out of the final compromise. — Li Zhou, Vox, "Congress’s recently passed sexual harassment bill, explained," 20 Dec. 2018 Before the overhaul, this provision was a subtraction from income for each person included on a tax return—typically the members of a family. — WSJ, "WSJ Tax Guide 2019: Standard-Deduction Expansion and Personal Exemption," 15 Feb. 2019 One sticking point has been a provision to create the state’s first charter schools, which the unions believe would erode traditional public education but bill advocates say would give parents more school choices. — John Raby, The Seattle Times, "Despite bill’s demise, W.Va. teachers to strike for 2nd day," 20 Feb. 2019 And believe it or not, there is a budgetary provision that allows Congress and the president to attempt to pare down spending on which everyone has just signed off. — Chad Pergram, Fox News, "Trump, GOP plan to rescind budget spending has precedent but rocky path in Congress," 2 Oct. 2018 Tucked into an economic development bill signed by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month was a little-noticed provision that could have a big economic impact for Massachusetts workers. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Massachusetts gives workers new protections against noncompete clauses," 21 Aug. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Thus provisioned, Hyundai’s mini-ute outdistances the Bolt (238 miles), the Jaguar I-Pace (234) and even comes within a whisker of Tesla’s base Model 3 (260). — Dan Neil, WSJ, "2019 Hyundai Kona Electric: Good EVs Are No Longer Shocking," 1 Nov. 2018 Then came the letters carried out by the teams of divers who took oxygen, food and medicine to the boys' refuge as experts pondered whether to dive them out or provision them for months while the monsoon season continues until at least late October. — Kaweewit Kaewjinda And Stephen Wright, Houston Chronicle, "Amid jubilation, 4 more boys rescued from flooded Thai cave," 10 July 2018 Then came the letters carried out by the teams of divers who took oxygen, food and medicine to the boys’ refuge as experts pondered whether to dive them out or provision them for months while the monsoon season continues until at least late October. — Kaweewit Kaewjinda And Stephen Wright, BostonGlobe.com, "Four boys have been rescued from Thai cave," 9 July 2018 There's quite a bit of work going into the virtualization front as well, with new versions of cloud-init and MAAS, Ubuntu's UI to provision all your Ubuntu servers from a single interface. — Scott Gilbertson, Ars Technica, "Ubuntu 18.04: Unity is gone, GNOME is back—and Ubuntu has never been better," 9 May 2018 In the 1920s, sports, cutting edge fashion, interior design and an expedition department (Fortnum’s provisioned the first expedition to Mount Everest) were added to the mix effectively creating a department store. — Amy Tara Koch, New York Times, "A Road Map to Shopping Like a Royal in London," 9 May 2018 In a joint effort with Major League Baseball, Spillane had come to testify about the prospect of legalized sports betting and what provisions the professional leagues believed should be included in potential laws. — Adam Kilgore, chicagotribune.com, "With states free to legalize sports betting, do the pro leagues deserve a cut?," 17 May 2018 Back seat space is also beautifully provisioned and almost too nice to soil with family duty. — Mark Maynard, sandiegouniontribune.com, "2018 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD: North American SUV of the Year," 23 Feb. 2018 For what country was better provisioned than France? — The Economist, "The maker of chefsPaul Bocuse died on January 20th," 25 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'provision.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.