1
as in economical
careful in the management of money or resources
it is possible to be provident without being miserly
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cautious
having or showing awareness of and preparation for the future
her provident measures kept us safe while we waited out the hurricane
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of provident
The ordinance also recognizes domestic workers as formal workers and extends protections to employees of non-profit organizations, including eligibility for provident fund and pension schemes.
—
Mayu Saini, Sourcing Journal, 21 Nov. 2025
My brother-in-law was not what one calls a provident father.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2024
For example, many cities have begun allowing parents to help their children buy an apartment using their housing provident funds, a kind of compulsory saving program in China.
—Jacky Wong, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022
Its pilots are angry over not having received the company’s contribution towards their provident fund since 2020, even as pay cuts continue.
—Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 13 July 2022
Social Security would likely be replaced also with a provident-fund system, basically a private retirement account with mandatory contributions, with backup provisions if this proves to be insufficient in old age.
—Nathan Lewis, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2021
That led to another announcement this spring, which prevented people from using BN(O) passports for the early withdrawal of mandatory provident funds (MPFs).
—Michelle Toh and Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, 26 Aug. 2021
The deficits, however, demand a more provident approach to the ballooning defense budget (now larger than everything else in the federal discretionary budget combined).
—Jessica T. Mathews, The New York Review of Books, 20 Aug. 2020
The combined employer-and-employee contribution rates into the city’s central provident fund – the main pension plan – currently drop from 37% at 55 years of age to as low as 12.5% for older workers.
—Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2019
Mayu Saini, Sourcing Journal, 21 Nov. 2025
My brother-in-law was not what one calls a provident father.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2024
For example, many cities have begun allowing parents to help their children buy an apartment using their housing provident funds, a kind of compulsory saving program in China.
—Jacky Wong, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022
Its pilots are angry over not having received the company’s contribution towards their provident fund since 2020, even as pay cuts continue.
—Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 13 July 2022
Social Security would likely be replaced also with a provident-fund system, basically a private retirement account with mandatory contributions, with backup provisions if this proves to be insufficient in old age.
—Nathan Lewis, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2021
That led to another announcement this spring, which prevented people from using BN(O) passports for the early withdrawal of mandatory provident funds (MPFs).
—Michelle Toh and Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, 26 Aug. 2021
The deficits, however, demand a more provident approach to the ballooning defense budget (now larger than everything else in the federal discretionary budget combined).
—Jessica T. Mathews, The New York Review of Books, 20 Aug. 2020
The combined employer-and-employee contribution rates into the city’s central provident fund – the main pension plan – currently drop from 37% at 55 years of age to as low as 12.5% for older workers.
—Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for provident
Adjective
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Similarly economical and granularly detailed is a 20-minute sequence in the middle of the film that’s gruesome, comical and crucial to the propulsion of the story.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
19 May 2026
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Klausmeier is already inside that negotiation, making a bet that clean, economical, and American-made are not three competing priorities.—
Afdhel Aziz,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Adjective
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While many major stock indexes have erased losses incurred at the start of the Iran war, government bonds have largely taken a more cautious approach, continuing to price in higher inflation and widespread interest rate hikes.—
Chloe Taylor,
CNBC,
20 May 2026
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Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a safety advisory for Japanese citizens in China to be cautious and attentive, avoid going out alone and take care when accompanying children.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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The tunnel was built after careful planning and executed with tremendous effort.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
16 May 2026
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Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
16 May 2026
Adjective
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For more time-saving, clever kitchen tools at Amazon, keep reading.—
Alicia Geigel,
Southern Living,
5 May 2026
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The former are made using a resource-saving, closed-loop process.—
Alexandra Harrell,
Sourcing Journal,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Still, Barnard predicts many European leaders would likely remain prudent given the current turmoil in Westminster.—
Tiago Ventura,
Time,
18 May 2026
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What feels like prudent focus often becomes dangerous overconfidence.—
Thierry Brunel,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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These platforms rest on an assumption that proactive state policy can significantly improve living standards, not merely soften an inevitable downturn, and offer voters more optimistic — if sharply divergent — diagnoses and cures than the pervasive resignation captured in the article.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
17 May 2026
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And the women were just carrying on and becoming more proactive.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2026
Adjective
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Aging will go much further toward happiness and satisfaction if the more farsighted among them will begin to organize societies for self-help and self-direction, rather than for the promotion of economic experiments of unknown dimensions and unforeseeable consequences.—
Christine Smallwood,
Harpers Magazine,
21 Apr. 2026
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These word assemblages could then be linked to one another or branch off in entirely new directions—a farsighted idea for the time.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
12 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Again, that feels like an eerily prescient message for our own time.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
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Bonus points for prescient insights into the dark side of obsessive super-fandom.—
Laura Zigman,
PEOPLE,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Provident.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provident. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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