Provisional
adjective
Something that is arranged or done for the time being and may change in the future.
The team has a provisional plan until the new manager arrives.
Often appears as...
- provisional plan
- provisional agreement
adjective
Relating to the official actions that are done before something is agreed or chosen definitely.
The provisional result of the vote will be announced tonight.
Often appears as...
- provisional result
- provisional order
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
adjective
Something that is arranged or done for the time being and may change in the future.
The team has a provisional plan until the new manager arrives.
Often appears as...
- provisional plan
- provisional agreement
adjective
Relating to the official actions that are done before something is agreed or chosen definitely.
The provisional result of the vote will be announced tonight.
Often appears as...
- provisional result
- provisional order
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Subject to Change
Referencing a plan or agreement that is not final and may be altered.
Our trip is on a provisional schedule, depending on the weather.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Status
Emphasizes the temporary nature of an arrangement before final decisions are made.
She's the provisional leader until the board elects a permanent one.
Pro Tip 3/3Conveys Uncertainty
Signals that the subject is pending and may not be relied upon as final.
We have a provisional list of attendees, but it's likely to change.
Pro Tip 1/3Subject to Change
Referencing a plan or agreement that is not final and may be altered.
Our trip is on a provisional schedule, depending on the weather.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Status
Emphasizes the temporary nature of an arrangement before final decisions are made.
She's the provisional leader until the board elects a permanent one.
Pro Tip 3/3Conveys Uncertainty
Signals that the subject is pending and may not be relied upon as final.
We have a provisional list of attendees, but it's likely to change.
Pro Tip 1/3Subject to Change
Referencing a plan or agreement that is not final and may be altered.
Our trip is on a provisional schedule, depending on the weather.
Pro Tip 2/3Temporary Status
Emphasizes the temporary nature of an arrangement before final decisions are made.
She's the provisional leader until the board elects a permanent one.
Pro Tip 3/3Conveys Uncertainty
Signals that the subject is pending and may not be relied upon as final.
We have a provisional list of attendees, but it's likely to change.
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Video examples
The world’s most...
In addition to these historical breakthroughs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the letters beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stars called the Pleiades?
Video examples
The secret to scientific...
and then go through this whole process again -- make predictions, test them -- and as you do that over and over again, you will hone this idea. And if it gets good enough, it may be accepted by the scientific community, at least provisionally, as a good explanation of what's going on,
Video examples
Why wasn’t the Bill of...
the Thirteen Colonies worked together through a provisional government called the Continental Congress. During the war in 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified as the first truly national government. But establishing a new nation would prove easier than running it.
Video examples
History vs. Vladimir...
"Hm, so who came to power?" "The Duma formed a provisional government, led by Alexander Kerensky, an incompetent bourgeois failure. He even launched another failed offensive in the war, where Russia had already lost so much, instead of ending it like the people wanted."
Video examples
Joshua Prince-Ramus:...
can be provisional. And you can drill, cut, nail, screw paint and replace, with a minimum of cost. But there was a third advantage that we got by doing this move that was unexpected. And that was that it freed up the perimeter of the auditorium in a most unusual way.
Video examples
Building a theater that...
be provisional and you can drill cut nails screw paint and replace with a minimum of cost but there was a third advantage that we got by doing this move it was unexpected and that was that it freed up the perimeter of the auditorium
Video examples
Shaffi Mather: A new way...
So, it actually works. That's a high gross margin business. I like it. I actually did not want to answer this on the TED stage. OK, so these are provisional numbers, no pricing guarantee.
Video examples
Ashraf Ghani: How to fix...
allows us to act. And it is necessary, no matter how fragile or how provisional our consensus, to be able to move forward. But the majority of the world neither benefits from capitalism
Video examples
Ben Katchor's comics of...
film processing drop-offs, peep-shows and necktie stores. Now these provisional structures have, in some cases, remained standing for the better part of a human lifetime.
Video examples
The dark history of the...
The alleged “Provisional Government” declared Hawaii a Republic the following year. They proclaimed that Hawaiians couldn’t vote
Video examples
The world’s most...
In addition to these historical breakthroughs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the letters beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stars called the Pleiades?
Video examples
The secret to scientific...
and then go through this whole process again -- make predictions, test them -- and as you do that over and over again, you will hone this idea. And if it gets good enough, it may be accepted by the scientific community, at least provisionally, as a good explanation of what's going on,
Video examples
Why wasn’t the Bill of...
the Thirteen Colonies worked together through a provisional government called the Continental Congress. During the war in 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified as the first truly national government. But establishing a new nation would prove easier than running it.
Video examples
History vs. Vladimir...
"Hm, so who came to power?" "The Duma formed a provisional government, led by Alexander Kerensky, an incompetent bourgeois failure. He even launched another failed offensive in the war, where Russia had already lost so much, instead of ending it like the people wanted."
Video examples
Joshua Prince-Ramus:...
can be provisional. And you can drill, cut, nail, screw paint and replace, with a minimum of cost. But there was a third advantage that we got by doing this move that was unexpected. And that was that it freed up the perimeter of the auditorium in a most unusual way.
Video examples
Building a theater that...
be provisional and you can drill cut nails screw paint and replace with a minimum of cost but there was a third advantage that we got by doing this move it was unexpected and that was that it freed up the perimeter of the auditorium
Video examples
Shaffi Mather: A new way...
So, it actually works. That's a high gross margin business. I like it. I actually did not want to answer this on the TED stage. OK, so these are provisional numbers, no pricing guarantee.
Video examples
Ashraf Ghani: How to fix...
allows us to act. And it is necessary, no matter how fragile or how provisional our consensus, to be able to move forward. But the majority of the world neither benefits from capitalism
Video examples
Ben Katchor's comics of...
film processing drop-offs, peep-shows and necktie stores. Now these provisional structures have, in some cases, remained standing for the better part of a human lifetime.
Video examples
The dark history of the...
The alleged “Provisional Government” declared Hawaii a Republic the following year. They proclaimed that Hawaiians couldn’t vote
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Alex Zanardi
Italian Driver
Your trip in this life is very provisional, but the best thing you can do in your life to live in the right way is to take every day as a great opportunity to do what you can and when you're as lucky as I have been in life in getting so much attention and exposure, you learn that you can move mountains with a very small effort.
Quote examples
Priyamvada Natarajan
Indian Scientist
Scientific knowledge is, by its nature, provisional. This is due to the fact that as time goes on, with the invention of better instruments, more data and better data hone our understanding further. Social, cultural, economic, and political context are relevant to our understanding of how science works.
Quote examples
Walead Beshty
American Photographer
It's extremely difficult to say what one actually means by 'sculpture' other than, in a provisional sense, it's something that goes on the floor or a pedestal, and loosely applies to a certain history of the use of that term.
Quote examples
Jeff Denham
American Politician
Whether we start with a provisional status and legal permanent residence... or we set up some other way to assimilate legally, you can't ever put in something that says, 'You can never become a citizen.' That's un-American.
Quote examples
A. R. Ammons
American Poet
I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they are necessary to whatever provisional stability we have, and they can be the agents of gradual and successful change.
Quote examples
Ernst Mach
Austrian Physicist
The task which we have set ourselves is simply to show why and for what purpose we hold that standpoint during most of our lives, and why and for what purpose we are provisionally obliged to abandon it.
Quote examples
Michelle Dean
American Journalist
Great novels are maps of complication, leading nowhere in particular, taking stances only provisionally and obliquely, happy to be tangled and to lack as many answers as the people they seek to depict.
Quote examples
Francois Jacob
French Scientist
For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all that was euphoric. I lived in the future.
Quote examples
H. P. Lovecraft
American Novelist
In theory I am an agnostic, but pending the appearance of rational evidence, I must be classed, practically and provisionally, as an atheist.
Quote examples
Ben Bernanke
American Public Servant
Of course, economic forecasts must be revised when new information arrives and are thus necessarily provisional.
Quote examples
Alex Zanardi
Italian Driver
Your trip in this life is very provisional, but the best thing you can do in your life to live in the right way is to take every day as a great opportunity to do what you can and when you're as lucky as I have been in life in getting so much attention and exposure, you learn that you can move mountains with a very small effort.
Quote examples
Priyamvada Natarajan
Indian Scientist
Scientific knowledge is, by its nature, provisional. This is due to the fact that as time goes on, with the invention of better instruments, more data and better data hone our understanding further. Social, cultural, economic, and political context are relevant to our understanding of how science works.
Quote examples
Walead Beshty
American Photographer
It's extremely difficult to say what one actually means by 'sculpture' other than, in a provisional sense, it's something that goes on the floor or a pedestal, and loosely applies to a certain history of the use of that term.
Quote examples
Jeff Denham
American Politician
Whether we start with a provisional status and legal permanent residence... or we set up some other way to assimilate legally, you can't ever put in something that says, 'You can never become a citizen.' That's un-American.
Quote examples
A. R. Ammons
American Poet
I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they are necessary to whatever provisional stability we have, and they can be the agents of gradual and successful change.
Quote examples
Ernst Mach
Austrian Physicist
The task which we have set ourselves is simply to show why and for what purpose we hold that standpoint during most of our lives, and why and for what purpose we are provisionally obliged to abandon it.
Quote examples
Michelle Dean
American Journalist
Great novels are maps of complication, leading nowhere in particular, taking stances only provisionally and obliquely, happy to be tangled and to lack as many answers as the people they seek to depict.
Quote examples
Francois Jacob
French Scientist
For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all that was euphoric. I lived in the future.
Quote examples
H. P. Lovecraft
American Novelist
In theory I am an agnostic, but pending the appearance of rational evidence, I must be classed, practically and provisionally, as an atheist.
Quote examples
Ben Bernanke
American Public Servant
Of course, economic forecasts must be revised when new information arrives and are thus necessarily provisional.
Example 1 of 10
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