Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To have the financial means for; bear the cost of: not able to afford a new car.
- v. To manage to spare or give up: can't afford an hour for lunch.
- v. To manage or bear without disadvantage or risk to oneself: can afford to be tolerant.
- v. To make available; provide: a sport affording good exercise; a tree that affords ample shade.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To promote; further; forward; carry out; accomplish; achieve; manage.
- To give, yield, produce, or confer upon; yield, furnish, supply, as an effect or a result, as of growth, effort, or operation: as, the earth affords grain; trade affords profit; religion affords consolation to the afflicted; the transaction afforded him a good profit; to afford one an agreeable sensation.
- To manage, be able, or have the means (with an infinitive clause); be able to give or bear, spare, or meet the expense of (with an object-noun): always, from the implication of ability, with may or can: as, we can afford to sell cheap; he might afford to gratify us; you can well afford the expense.
- Synonyms To supply, furnish, bestow, communicate, give, impart.
Wiktionary
- v. To incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; -- with an auxiliary, as can, could, might, etc.; to be able or rich enough.
- v. To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting, expending, with profit, or without loss or too great injury.
- v. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue.
- v. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue
- v. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish.
- v. To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting, expending, with profit, or without loss or too great injury
- v. To incur, stand, or bear without serious detriment, as an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; -- with an auxiliary, as
can ,could ,might , etc.; to be able or rich enough.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be able to spare or give up
- v. be the cause or source of
- v. have the financial means to do something or buy something
- v. afford access to
Etymologies
- From Old English afōrthen, Old English geforðian, forðian ("to further, accomplish, afford"), from forð ("forth, forward"). The prefix ge- has no well defined sense. See forth. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English aforthen, from Old English geforthian, to carry out : ge-, perfective pref.; see yclept + forthian, to further (from forth, forth, forward; see per1 in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The one thing we certainly cannot afford is leaving the control frauds under the control of fraudulent CEOs.”
“When you are already working with limited space, one thing you surely cannot afford is a reduction in the existing floor space.”
“If the government would raise the minimum wage to a decent amount mothers can once again afford to stay home with their children while the father works.”
“The plan DOES offer a Public Option, it allows people to go into a plan where they are means tested so that all they can afford is taken from them in order to allow them to participate along side whats being done with a capped global budget VA style system for the have-nots.”
“The one tax credit the world cannot afford is the child tax credit. if you can't afford the kids ..... don't have them, should become the by word for the world.”
“They are ignoring transportation costs as a factor in afford-ability.”
“One reason that many people like me do not give as much as they can afford, is the seeming irrelevance of a single contribution.”
“Beach police captain to buy a home he couldn't afford from the captain's wife.”
“Despite my good work record and my skills, I can't get a job to save my life, and all we can afford is catastrophic health insurance (if I get hit by a Mack Truck, I'm covered, anything less and I'm SOL).”
“What I can't afford is the cost of doing nothing, which seems to be the GOP plan.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘afford’.
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Linda(G4)
Accurate, address, afford, alert, analyze, ancestor, annual, apparent, arena, arrest, ascend, assist and 126 more...
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Grade 4
Accurate, address, afford, alert, analyze, ancrstor, ancestor, annual, apparent, appropriate, arena, arrest and 29 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Joey Grade 4
address, afford, alert, analyze, ancestor, accurate, annual, apparent
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word list
abandon, ache, augment, avow, atone, approbate, apprehend, abut, apostatize, abase, abash, abate and 155 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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To Supply or Furnish (with)
Verbs meaning supply or furnish (with)
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for words
based upon per- indo-european root
turnverein, veer, frump, far, per, paramount, paramour, parget, parterre, parvenu, perissodactyl, palanquin and 133 more...
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oneasterism's words
Words that I like, that I don't use often enough, that are new to me, that friends and family have taught me, and so on.
lugubrious, reticent, eschelon, missive, penchant, copious, conspicuous, tranquil, redolent, asinine, inane, dilatory and 625 more...
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The Old English Influence
Modern English words impacted by and descended from Old English.
a, aback, abaft, abide, about, above, abode, accursed, accurst, ache, acknowledge, acorn and 109 more...
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Jennifer's LIST
accurate, address, afford, alert, analyze, ancestor, annual, appropriate, apparent, arena, arrest, ascend and 28 more...
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Oxford 3000
Oxford 3000 is a list of the most common 3000 words in the English language publishe by OUP.
The keywords of the Oxford 3000 have been carefully selected by a group of language experts and ex...a, an, abandon, abandoned, ability, able, unable, about, above, abroad, absence, absent, absolute and 65 more...
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May8CV
innovative, innovator, piss off, regularity, particularly, dynamics, incumbent, entrepreneur, aware, successful, onslaught, vaunted and 10 more...
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TN9 Lesson 104
excuse, lame, jerk, make up, buddy, apology, apologize, preparations, graduate, graduation, organize, simplify and 12 more...
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New words
Tweets
Looking for tweets for afford.

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