afford
Americanverb (used with object)
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affords,
present (3rd person singular)
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afforded,
past participle, past
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affording
present participle
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to be able to do, manage, or bear without serious consequence or adverse effect.
The country can't afford another drought.
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to be able to meet the expense of; have or be able to spare the price of.
Can we afford a trip to Europe this year? The city can easily afford to repair the street.
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to be able to give or spare.
He can't afford the loss of a day.
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The transaction afforded him a good profit.
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to be capable of yielding or providing.
The records afford no explanation.
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to give or confer upon.
to afford great pleasure to someone.
verb
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to be able to do or spare something, esp without incurring financial difficulties or without risk of undesirable consequences
we can afford to buy a small house
I can afford to give you one of my chess sets
we can't afford to miss this play
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to give, yield, or supply
the meeting afforded much useful information
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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affordsimple
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affordssimple
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have affordedperfect
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has affordedperfect
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am affordingprogressive
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are affordingprogressive
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is affordingprogressive
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have been affordingperfect progressive
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has been affordingperfect progressive
Past
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affordedsimple
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had affordedperfect
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was affordingprogressive
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were affordingprogressive
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had been affordingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of afford
First recorded before 1050; Middle English aforthen, iforthen, Old English geforthian “to further, accomplish,” equivalent to ge- y- + forth forth + -ian infinitive suffix
Explanation
To afford means you have enough money or time for something. If you only have ten dollars on you, you can't afford to buy a twenty-dollar hat. Afford is a verb that has to do with means. You either have a surplus and therefore can afford something, or else you have a deficit and can’t. It can be in the monetary sense: "$100 for cashmere socks? I can’t afford that!” It can also refer to time: “Since my train wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour, I could afford to wait for my sister ten more minutes.” Or even access: “The castle walls afforded a wonderful view of the moat.”
Vocabulary lists containing afford
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Purple Hibiscus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"If that family cannot afford it, they don't eat. Imagine the worst scenario, and it's even worse."
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
That means he’s still owed a huge sum of money that LIV can no longer afford to pay him, whether or not the league remains operational.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Still, helping customers afford data centers probably makes good sense, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
“I have a master’s degree but I can’t afford to buy a house here,” Keeler, 37, said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
“I will. As soon as I can afford to furnish my new place.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
The subscription also affords access to greater computing power, or “up to 40 minutes of RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell,” which is a reference to a type of Nvidia hardware.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Major cities throughout the States have seen crushing drops in Canadian tourism and business it affords to costly enterprises like ski resorts.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
Even so, it is the act of assembling disparate icons and references into resonant wholes that affords Saar’s sculptures and tableaux their personal and political import.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The RF also affords some measure of security against top-slashing thieves and delinquents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
Where it doesn’t matter if no one affords you charity, or nostalgia for your memories.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
The 21-page document argues that the benefits afforded by such an addition make it both necessary and warranted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
She deviates from the one-note mean girl role, supplying Gen with dimensionality and kindness that characters like these were rarely afforded.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
How irresistible it must be to get a second chance that very few are afforded.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The ruling concerns a travel provision afforded to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program created in 2012.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Similarly mournful love songs were cropping up all over Europe during this period, their woeful lyrics gaining popularity in courts, noble houses, and other places where a sheet of printed music could be afforded.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Foot Locker is dealing with challenges facing the broader athletic-shoe industry — namely, consumers who are too worried about affording basics to think about buying less essential items like sneakers, D.A.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
His mother was of European descent and his father was a Cantonese opera star who was on tour in the city, affording his son birthright citizenship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
In Jackson’s words, “Congress could not have meant for the guarantees it was affording to be so cavalierly swept aside.”
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026
However, one could reasonably expect an AI-related positive productivity shock to further lift the nominal equilibrium rate, affording the Fed time to wait out the latest round of supply shocks and inflationary pressure.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
At first, aircraft were used mainly to carry out reconnaissance flights, affording a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield and enemy positions.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
