Afford (verb)
[uh–fohrd] / əˈfɔrd /
Meaning:
1. to have enough money to pay for something.
2. to be able to do something without it causing any problems.
If you say you cannot afford a new car, that means you don’t have enough money to buy it.
If you say you cannot afford to do something, that means it will create problems if you do it.
Imagine this, you went to a mall and you saw a watch that you really liked. The price was $10,000.
You can say, “I really liked that watch, but I don’t have enough money to buy it.“
You can say, “I really liked that watch, but I cannot afford it.”
Imagine your manager is angry with you for some reason.
Your friend asked you, “Hey, can you get a day off next week so we can go on a trip?”
You can reply, “Oh no, I cannot afford to take any time off right now, maybe later.”
If you say you cannot afford to take a day off, you mean that if you take a day off that will create a problem for you.
Other forms of Afford:
Affordable (adjective)
I love this city because everything is affordable.
Affordability (noun)
We are designing a new car keeping affordability of a middle class people in mind.
We are designing a new car which will be affordable to middle class people.
More examples using Afford:
- Until I get a new job, we can only afford to buy a small house.
- John is too poor to afford a doctor.
- The CEO said, “We cannot afford to lose any more customers.”
- Lamborghini is a luxury car. Very few people can afford it.
- “Hey you should get your house repainted.” “No, I cannot afford it right now.”
