Provisional means arranged for now, and open to change. A provisional booking, a provisional licence, provisional results.
A provisional driving licence in Britain lets you learn but not drive alone, and provisional results are ones that may be corrected. The word promises nothing, which is exactly why organisations use it when they do not want to commit.
1adjectiveprovisionalArranged for now, and open to change.
“We've made a provisional booking at the hotel, but we can still cancel.”
provisional is a state.
From provision, from Latin providere, to foresee — pro, ahead, plus videre, to see.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
prōvīsiō — preparation, foresight
Old French
provision
Middle English
provisioun
English
provision
English, today
provisional
Built from
From provision + al, or else from Middle French provisionnal (modern French provisionnel). Compare Latin prōvīsiōnālis. provision comes from Middle English provisioun, from Old French provision, from Latin prōvīsiō (“preparation, foresight”), from prōvideō (“provide”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA