different between provide vs vouchsafe

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pr?vide? (“I foresee, I act with foresight”). Doublet of purvey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???va?d/
• Rhymes: -a?d

Verb

provide (third-person singular simple present provides, present participle providing, simple past and past participle provided)

1. To make a living; earn money for necessities.

2. To act to prepare for something.

3. To establish as a previous condition; to stipulate.

4. To give what is needed or desired, especially basic needs.
5. To furnish (with), cause to be present.
   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations

     Rome […] was generally well provided with corn.

6. To make possible or attainable.
7. (obsolete, Latinism) To foresee.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

8. To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See provisor.
   • 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

     provide such natives to the to the higher dignities of the church

Usage notes

As seen in the examples, when not used with that for previous conditions, provide is used with the prepositions for (beneficiary; also without preposition, usual for pronouns) and with (object).

Derived terms

• provider

Related terms

• provision

Translations

Anagrams

• prevoid

Galician

Alternative forms

• provinde

Verb

provide

1. second-person plural imperative of provir

Italian

Verb

provide

1. third-person singular past historic of provedere

Anagrams

• deprivo, deprivò
• provedi

Latin

Etymology

From pr?vidus (“prophetic, prudent, cautious”) +? -?, from pr?vide? (“foresee, be cautious”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?pro?.u?i.de?/, [?p?o?u??d?e?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?pro.vi.de/, [?p???vid??]

Adverb

pr?vid? (comparative pr?vidius, superlative pr?vidissim?)

1. carefully, prudently

Verb

pr?vid?

1. second-person singular present active imperative of pr?vide?

Noun

pr?vide

1. singular vocative of pr?vidus

References

• provide in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• provide in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Etymology

vouch +? safe, written as two words in Middle English and early Modern English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?va?t??se?f/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [?v??t??se?f]
• Rhymes: -e?f
• Hyphenation: vouch?safe

Verb

vouchsafe (third-person singular simple present vouchsafes, present participle vouchsafing, simple past and past participle vouchsafed)

1. To graciously give, to condescendingly grant a right, benefit, outcome, etc.; to deign to acknowledge.
2. To receive or accept in condescension.
   • 1913 Eleanor Porter: Pollyanna: Chapter 8:

     Nancy's lips parted abruptly, as if there were angry words all ready to come; but her eyes, resting on Pollyanna's jubilantly trustful face, saw something that prevented the words being spoken.
     "Humph!" she vouchsafed. Then, showing her old-time interest, she went on: "But, say, it is queer, his speakin' to you, honestly, Miss Pollyanna. He don't speak ter no one; and he lives all alone in a great big lovely house all full of jest grand things, they say. Some says he's crazy, and some jest cross; and some says he's got a skeleton in his closet."

3. To disclose or divulge.

   She vouchsafed to me that she regretted ever marrying him.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vouchsafe.

Synonyms

• deign

Related terms

• vouchsafement
• vouchsafing

Translations