Afford

/əˈfoɹd/ · verb

Meaning

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..

Definitions by Sense

1. 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. (obsolete) To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting or expending, with profit, or without too great a loss.
3. (rare) To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue.
4. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish.

Example Sentences

I think we can afford the extra hour it will take.  We can only afford to buy a small car at the moment.

“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?[…]”

If a party member can afford the fee, then the syncophants^([sic]) will go to work.

Of course, no one called the fire department. No one would take on fire service fees just to save an unoccupied garage. Most of our households couldn’t afford another big bill, anyway. The water wasted on putting out the fire was going to be hard enough to pay for.

Ms Camisa and her husband have had to rejig their finances to afford tuition.

Alfred affords his goods cheaper than Bantock.

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

The percentage of nutritive elements contained in the parsnip is very small; so small, indeed, that one pound of parsnips affords hardly one fifth of an ounce of nitrogenous or muscle-forming material.

Synonyms for afford

Antonyms for afford

Related Words

Word Forms

• affords
• affording
• afforded
• afoord
• affoord
• affoard
• affowrd

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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