bought

American  

[bawt] / bɔt /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of buy.

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adjective

1. South Midland and Southern U.S. store-bought.

bought British  

/ bɔːt /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of buy

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adjective

1. purchased from a shop; not homemade

bought Idioms  

1. see under buy.

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Other Word Forms

• unbought adjective
• well-bought adjective

Etymology

Origin of bought

First recorded before 900, for the adjective for an earlier sense

Compare meaning

How does bought compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• bought vs. brought

Example Sentences

Roark bought Driven in 2015 and took it public in 2021.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

Sonny Baker has just started to tell a story about a bike he bought from someone on Facebook Marketplace and a tomahawk steak when the video call goes dead.

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026

“We just bought our kids a pretty nice set of bunk beds,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

At Intel’s $94.75 price, the May $110 call could be sold for about $2.60 and the May $84 put could be bought for about $2.55.

From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026

If Ba had known about us and Ma could’ve convinced him that we were serious, that would’ve bought me a little more time.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu