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.
a generous gift.
generosity in giving.
generosity in giving to others; liberality
a generous gift; something freely provided
a payment made by a government, as, formerly, to a sailor on enlisting or to a soldier after a campaign
any reward or premium
a bounty of 20p for every rat killed
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.
See bonus.
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
If there is bounty on your table, it means you have a wide variety and large quantity of food. If there's a bounty on your head, it means the government has put out a reward for your capture. Bounty derives from the Latin bonus "good." Both meanings of bounty are connected with the idea of generosity, giving. A government known for its bounty will probably set a large bounty on the head of a murderer at large.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The company also ran a bug bounty program, which pays people to find security flaws.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
The actor said he's enjoying playing a range of roles, including Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter in the upcoming "Supergirl" film, which he described as "a childhood dream."
From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026
His inaugural city budget relies on the miraculous bounty of capitalism.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Not too long ago in this very galaxy, audiences watched a helmeted bounty hunter meet a mysterious big-eyed alien toddler on their TVs, and “Star Wars” was changed forever.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
“Tsar Kazimir has an outstanding bounty for any dragon brought to him alive,” Dobrynya said.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
