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Definition of Afford
1. Verb. Be able to spare or give up. "I can't afford to spend two hours with this person"
2. Verb. Be the cause or source of. "Our meeting afforded much interesting information"
Specialized synonyms: Open, Open Up, Allow, Allow For, Leave, Provide
Related verbs: Give
Generic synonyms: Furnish, Provide, Render, Supply
3. Verb. Have the financial means to do something or buy something. "Can you afford this car?"
4. Verb. Afford access to. "The French doors give onto a terrace"
Definition of Afford
1. v. t. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue; as, grapes afford wine; olives afford oil; the earth affords fruit; the sea affords an abundant supply of fish.
Definition of Afford
1. Verb. 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. ¹
2. Verb. To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting, expending, with profit, or without loss or too great injury. ¹
3. Verb. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue. ¹
4. Verb. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Afford
1. to have sufficient means for [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Medical Definition of Afford
1. 1. To give forth; to supply, yield, or produce as the natural result, fruit, or issue; as, grapes afford wine; olives afford oil; the earth affords fruit; the sea affords an abundant supply of fish. 2. To give, grant, or confer, with a remoter reference to its being the natural result; to provide; to furnish; as, a good life affords consolation in old age. "His tuneful Muse affords the sweetest numbers." (Addison) "The quiet lanes . . . Afford calmer retreats." (Gilpin) 3. To offer, provide, or supply, as in selling, granting, expending, with profit, or without loss or too great injury; as, A affords his goods cheaper than B; a man can afford a sum yearly in charity. 4. 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. "The merchant can afford to trade for smaller profits." (Hamilton) "He could afford to suffer With those whom he saw suffer." (Wordsworth) Origin: OE. Aforthen, AS. Geforian, forian, to further, accomplish, afford, fr. For forth, forward. The prefix ge- has no well defined sense. See Forth. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Afford
Literary usage of Afford
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam ( Smith, Joseph Shield Nicholson (1895)
"The woods of Norway, and of the coasts of the Baltic, find a market in many parts
of Great Britain, which they could not find at home, and there- by afford ..."
2. The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon (1921)
"THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION BUT THE NEW ENGINES WERE VERY EXPENSIVE AND ONLY PEOPLE OF
WEALTH COULD afford THEM. THE OLD CARPENTER OR SHOEMAKER WHO HAD BEEN HIS ..."
3. A Treatise on Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental by David Hume, Thomas Hill Green (1874)
"... afford general knowledge. mer of these limitations to real truth we find Locke
generally recognising, and consequently suspecting a science of nature to ..."
4. Proceedings by Philadelphia County Medical Society (1897)
"The number of convulsive seizures that we have tabulated is doubtless too few to
afford a basis for positive statements, yet the results obtained are ..."
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