əˈfō(ə)rd, -ȯ(ə)rd, -ōəd, -ȯ(ə)d transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English aforthen, from Old English geforthian to carry out, accomplish, further, from ge- (perfective prefix) + forthian to carry out, from forth forth, forward — more at co- , forth
1.
a. : to manage to bear without serious detriment — used with infinitive
a dictionary of an ancient language can afford to embrace everything that can be called a word — R.W.Chapman
you can't afford to get out of balance — Lou Smyth
most of us, however, can well afford to look critically at our writing — Milton Hail
she could afford to be generous with Irene — Louis Auchincloss
b. : to manage to pay for or incur the cost of
no country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources — F.D.Roosevelt
people who can afford leisure sit in cafés by the hour — W.P.Webb
our failure to recognize and foster promising students who cannot afford college — Douglas Bush
we can afford only those threats that we are ready to carry out — New Republic
2.
a. : give , furnish
history affords us a wealth of examples — John Strachey
an old building with grillwork elevators affording passengers a view of the cable — J.F.Powers
— sometimes used with to
their business is not to praise their age, but to afford to the men who live in it the highest pleasure which they are capable of feeling — Matthew Arnold
the bill was a measure necessary to afford protection to labor as well as industry — Current Biography
b. : to furnish or offer typcially or as an essential concomitant
apartments are small and afford very little living space — D.P.O'Mahony
by the great distribution afforded by the printing press — R.A.Hall b.1911
3. archaic : to sell at a particular price