furnish

furnish — verb

1. to put items such as chairs, tables, beds, or shelves into a room or building so

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to put items such as chairs, tables, beds, or shelves into a room or building so that it is fully ready for people to live or work in it.

Example

Niran and his wife spent the weekend furnishing their new apartment with secondhand finds.

The bedrooms are simply furnished with a bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe.

passive: be furnished with [specific items]

Common collocations
  • furnish a room
  • furnish an apartment
  • furnish a house
  • furnish a flat
  • fully furnished
  • beautifully furnished
  • simply furnished
  • newly furnished
  • furnished with
Synonyms
  • equip

    broader than furnish; includes tools, appliances, or technology needed for a function, not just furniture

  • outfit

    less formal than furnish; suggests providing all necessary gear or supplies for a specific purpose

  • appoint

    formal register; typically used for high-quality or official furnishings in stately buildings or offices

Antonyms
  • strip

    to remove all furniture from a room

  • empty

    to make a room completely bare of furniture

Grammar Patterns

furnish + noun phrase (room/house/apartment)

furnish + noun phrase + with + noun phrase

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive form (e.g., 'The room is furnished with...') to describe what items are in a space. The active voice emphasises the person doing the furnishing.

Common Mistakes

They decorated the apartment with a bed and a table.
They furnished the apartment with a bed and a table.
'furnish' means adding functional furniture; 'decorate' means adding ornamental or aesthetic items.

2. to make something needed available to someone, such as information, evidence, do

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to make something needed available to someone, such as information, evidence, documents, or financial resources.

Example

Gabriel furnished the police with a detailed description of the suspect.

furnish + somebody + with + [information]

The report furnishes valuable data on the effects of climate change in Southeast Asia.

Common collocations
  • furnish information
  • furnish evidence
  • furnish details
  • furnish proof
  • furnish data
  • furnish a list
  • furnish with
Synonyms
  • provide

    more common and less formal than furnish; used in everyday and official contexts alike

  • supply

    suggests meeting a need in a systematic or ongoing way rather than a single act

  • equip

    implies providing tools, skills, or resources that enable someone to perform a task

Antonyms
  • withhold

    to deliberately refuse to give something that is needed

  • deprive

    to take away something someone already has or prevent them from having it

Grammar Patterns

furnish + somebody + with + something

furnish + something + to + somebody

Usage Note

More formal than 'give' or 'provide'. Common in academic writing, official requests, and legal contexts. The pattern 'furnish + somebody + with + something' is far more frequent than 'furnish + something + to + somebody'.

Common Mistakes

Can you furnish me a pen?
Can you give me a pen?
'furnish' sounds overly formal for small everyday items. Use it for important things such as information, evidence, or official documents.
He furnished them water.
He furnished them with water.
'furnish' requires 'with' when the recipient comes before the thing provided.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four verbs describe providing a space or person with necessary items, but they differ in scope and register. Furnish focuses specifically on adding furniture — beds, chairs, tables, shelves — to a living or working space. Outfit is broader: it covers any gear, clothing, or supplies needed for a particular purpose, such as outfitting a hiking trip or a new kitchen. Equip carries a stronger sense of tools, instruments, or technology that enable a function — you equip a laboratory with microscopes, not furniture. Appoint is a formal word reserved for high-quality or official furnishings, often in grand buildings or executive offices — a boardroom might be appointed with leather chairs and mahogany tables. In everyday use, you furnish a flat, outfit a camper van, equip a workshop, and appoint a conference hall.

furnish ↗outfitequip ↗appoint ↗

Common collocations

Prepositions

Etymology

Old FrenchAnglo-NormanEnglish

Furnish comes from the Old French word 'fournir' (to accomplish, provide), which entered English in the 15th century. The sense of 'providing a room with what it needs' — i.e., putting furniture in it — developed in the 16th century. The noun 'furniture' shares the same French root but arrived in English about a century earlier.