provider
providers
A provider is a person who gives someone something they need. If your parents both have jobs so they can feed you and buy you what you need, you can call them providers.
Your mom's a provider if she works so she can care for you, put food on the table, and send you to school. There are other types of providers as well, although they all give you something you need, often a service. Your school is a provider of education, and the pharmacy around the corner is a provider of medication, makeup, and magazines. It's increasingly common to call your main doctor a "primary care provider."
Definitions of provider
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someone who provides the means for subsistence
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type of:
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benefactor, helper
a person who helps people or institutions (especially with financial help)
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benefactor, helper
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someone whose business is to supply a particular service or commodity
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synonyms:
supplier
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types:
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black marketeer
someone who engages illegally in trade in scarce or controlled commodities
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caterer
someone who provides food and service (as for a party)
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connection
a supplier (especially of narcotics)
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dispenser
a person who dispenses
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distributer, distributor
someone who markets merchandise
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purveyor
someone who supplies provisions (especially food)
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recruiter
someone who supplies members or employees
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stockist
one (as a retailer or distributor) that stocks goods
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provisioner, sutler, victualer, victualler
a supplier of victuals or supplies to an army
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headhunter
a recruiter of personnel (especially for corporations)
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jobber, middleman, wholesaler
someone who buys large quantities of goods and resells to merchants rather than to the ultimate customers
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retail merchant, retailer
a merchant who sells goods at retail
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scout, talent scout
someone employed to discover and recruit talented persons (especially in the worlds of entertainment or sports)
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ship chandler
a dealer in equipment and supplies for ships
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wool stapler
a dealer in wool
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type of:
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bourgeois, businessperson
a capitalist who engages in industrial commercial enterprise
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘provider'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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