ownership
Americannoun
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the state or fact of being an owner
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legal right of possession; proprietorship
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of ownership
Explanation
Ownership is the state of owning something. Anything that people own or possess gives them the quality of ownership. Wars are often fought over the ownership of land. When you buy a book, you own it. Add the suffix ship to owner, and now you have ownership of that lovely book. If you buy a house, you have ownership of it. Politicians like to talk about the “American dream of home ownership.” If you buy a lottery ticket, you have ownership of that, too. If you win big, you’ll have ownership of lots of cash and then you, too can realize that American dream.
Vocabulary lists containing ownership
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ship
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"CLEP Financial Accounting," Vocabulary from Chapter 19
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-ship
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The acquisition gives GSK ownership of three lung cancer drug candidates, two of which are under FDA review for approval this year.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
Multiple ownership means it is likely to take time before development proposals start to be looked at.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
A grant of £586,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund has helped pay for transfer of the rock's ownership along with neighbouring Craigleith Island, which is home to about 10,000 puffins.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
Investors can gain cryptocurrency exposure without direct ownership through plain-vanilla crypto ETFs, infrastructure funds and managed accounts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
Gene patents are the point of greatest concern in the debate over ownership of human biological materials, and how that ownership might interfere with science.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
