supply
noun · verb · adverb
Simple meaning
To provide, to make available for use.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhplySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
səpˈlaɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
chiefly in the plural
An amount of money provided, as by Parliament or Congress, to meet the annual national expenditures.
countable
An amount of something supplied.
An amount of something available for use
Somebody, such as a teacher or clergyman, who temporarily fills the place of another; a substitute.
The activity of supplying or providing something
uncountable
The act of supplying.
verb
transitive
To provide (something), to make (something) available for use.
Circulate or distribute or equip with
transitive
To furnish or equip with.
transitive
To compensate for, or make up a deficiency of.
transitive
To serve instead of; to take the place of.
transitive
To fill temporarily; to serve as substitute for another in, as a vacant place or office; to occupy; to have possession of.
adverb
Supplely: in a supple manner, with suppleness.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An amount of money provided, as by Parliament or Congress, to meet the annual national expenditures.
Used this way, supply is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Nearby words
- ply , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Someone whose business is to supply a particular service or commodity.
The activity of supplying or providing something.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A closet for storing supplies.
A route over which supplies can be delivered.
A commissioned officer responsible for logistics.
A route over which supplies can be delivered.
Ship that usually provides supplies to other ships.
The school of economic theory that stresses the costs of production as a means of stimulating the economy.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- voltagenoun
- electricitynoun
- logisticsnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.