Learn English – What does the word “afford” mean here

meaningsynonyms

What does the word "afford" mean in this passage from an online article? I'd appreciate some synonym as well.

Email Limits What You Can Do

You do things with people. How you talk is what you do.

There is a theme amongst the best software thinkers I know, and it goes like this: Architecture is everything. I don’t mean how the code is structured. The architecture of how the software fits, limits, and affords the human mind.

I tend to think that the 3d definition of "afford" from the online Merriam Webster dictionary is closer, but still not very accurate:

to be able to pay for (something)

to be able to do (something) without having problems or being seriously harmed

to supply or provide (something needed or wanted) to someone

Best Answer

While "afford" is usually used with regards to having enough money or other resources to spend on a certain thing, it can also be used to indicate that an object embodies a certain possible use. Typically the word used is "affordance", but the verb afford is sometimes used as well. See the Wikipedia article on affordance for some examples:

For example, a knob affords twisting, and perhaps pushing, while a cord affords pulling.

A possible synonym might be "lend itself to"; a knob lends itself to twisting. I'm not sure if this is the meaning intended in the example text, but it could make sense:

The architecture of how the software fits, limits, and lends itself to the human mind.

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