How to Use provisional in a Sentence

provisional

adjective
  • The government has given provisional approval for the use of the new drug.
  • The parties reached a provisional deal over the summer, but talks have since stalled.
    — Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 9 Oct. 2025
  • The provisional status would run two years and could be renewed for a total of eight years.
    — John Wilkerson, STAT, 26 Oct. 2023
  • The order does not close the polling places and voter in line by nine can still cast provisional ballots.
    — Bayliss Wagner, Austin American Statesman, 3 Mar. 2026
  • The board approved the provisional ballots for each of the six voters.
    — Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
  • The 29 players from the provisional roster who didn’t make the cut?
    — Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2026
  • Teams need space for provisional thinking.
    — Benjamin Laker, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • At polling places that remained closed, voters were sent to other sits to pick up provisional ballots.
    — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
  • The current provisional deal does not contain those demands.
    — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
  • What is new is seeing most of the provisional field for America’s richest race join the trend.
    — Kevin Modesti, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Oct. 2025
  • To Rahm's relief, the ball from his first tee shot was located and the provisional tee shot was abandoned.
    — Jim Reineking, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2023
  • The team has already filed a provisional patent for the technology.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 1 June 2026
  • According to a provisional post-mortem, he is also believed to have died by suicide.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 30 June 2026
  • The board also rejected a provisional ballot of a voter who voted in the wrong precinct.
    — Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
  • Election officials later stopped their provisional count and switched to a final count.
    — Nick Perry, ajc, 16 Dec. 2022
  • A week after the election, Helm showed up to a board meeting to defend her provisional ballot and beg for her vote to count.
    — Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica, 13 July 2023
  • The board voted to reject the provisional ballots.
    — Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
  • The board voted to reject his provisional ballot and count his early in-person ballot.
    — Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
  • Amazon reached a provisional agreement to settle to case on May 31.
    — Todd Spangler, Variety, 20 July 2023
  • Under the old system, these voters’ provisional ballots would have been counted.
    — cleveland, 23 Aug. 2023
  • In prior years, about 70% of provisional ballots have counted in the county.
    — Luke Nozicka, Kansas City Star, 22 Mar. 2024
  • Mailed absentee, provisional and post election ballots have not yet been tallied.
    — Stacy Parker, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Any time someone goes to a polling location to vote, and the clerks are unsure if that person can vote, they are given a provisional ballot.
    — Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Arafi is a member of the provisional government council.
    — ABC News, 2 Mar. 2026
  • The group claimed that the chief justice of Haiti’s High Court had agreed to serve as provisional president.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The order was provisional, leaving the regulation in place while a challenge moves forward in the courts.
    — Adam Liptak, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2023
  • As of last year, Virginia accepts mail-in and provisional ballots until noon three days after the election.
    — Teo Armus, Washington Post, 5 May 2023
  • After six months, minors can take a behind-the-wheel driving test to obtain their provisional driver’s license.
    — Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 20 May 2026
  • For me, most of the time that means a provisional patent application (PPA).
    — Stephen Key, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
  • World Boxing was set up last year and granted provisional recognition to run the sport at future Games.
    — Jessica Hopkins, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'provisional.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: