bounty

American  

[boun-tee] / ˈbaʊn ti /

noun

plural

bounties

1. a premium or reward, especially one offered by a government.

   There was a bounty on his head. Some states offer a bounty for dead coyotes.

2. a generous gift.

   Synonyms:

   benefaction, present

3. generosity in giving.

   Synonyms:

   munificence, beneficence, charity, liberality

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bounty ¹ British  

/ ˈbaʊntɪ /

noun

1. generosity in giving to others; liberality

2. a generous gift; something freely provided

3. a payment made by a government, as, formerly, to a sailor on enlisting or to a soldier after a campaign

4. any reward or premium

   a bounty of 20p for every rat killed

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Bounty ² British  

/ ˈbaʊntɪ /

noun

1. a British naval ship commanded by Captain William Bligh, which was on a scientific voyage in 1789 between Tahiti and the West Indies when her crew mutinied

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Usage

What does bounty mean? A bounty is a reward, especially one offered in an official way for the capture of someone or something.This sense of the word most often refers to the reward sought by bounty hunters for tracking down and capturing fugitive criminals (or, in older times, killing them). A more recent use of the word refers to the reward offered for identifying a software vulnerability in a company’s or organization’s system.In a broader sense, the word bounty means a generous gift or generosity in general. This sense of the word is most often used in a poetic way, such as referring to crops as the bounty of the land. The H.M.S. Bounty, the ship aboard which the notorious mutiny occurred, was probably named after this sense of the word.Example: The bounty offered for the capture of Billy the Kid was $500—dead or alive.

Related Words

See bonus.

Other Word Forms

• bountyless adjective

Etymology

Origin of bounty

1200–50; Middle English b ( o ) unte < Anglo-French, Old French bonte, Old French bontet < Latin bonitāt- (stem of bonitās ) goodness. See boon ², -ity

Example Sentences

Over the course of three Sundays, Image contributing photographer Jennelle Fong captured stylish visitors with their bounty at the venerated Hollywood Farmers Market.

From Los Angeles Times

This show juxtaposes paintings and works on paper by that master with those by the younger artist, who was born in 1993, probing the ways he channels the former’s creative bounty.

From The Wall Street Journal

Oseguera was Mexico's most wanted man and was also sought by the United States, which had a $15 million bounty on him.

From Barron's

In January, the makers of Curl software abandoned their own bug bounty program, citing “an explosion in AI slop reports.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. has offered a $25 million bounty for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• donation
• gift
• largess
• premium
• prize
• reward