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

He and his wife, Cheri, bought a comfortable home in a tidy subdivision here in the heart of Bayou Country.

From Los Angeles Times

In 2007, there was no requirement to identify the owners of offshore companies which bought UK property, and Kulibayev was only named by the media three years later.

From BBC

Japan's Marubeni, which is backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said it had bought British heritage sportswear brand Gola as the trading house moves to tap growing global demand for retro trainers.

From Barron's

It bought Calpine, based in Houston, from private-equity firm Energy Capital Partners in a cash and stock deal worth more than $30 billion, including debt, based on the current share price.

From Barron's

Even though nearly a third of single-family homes in the third quarter of 2025 were bought by investors, most of these investors were small, mom-and-pop landlords and not large institutional ones, data shows.

From MarketWatch