endowment
Americannoun
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the source of income with which an institution, etc, is endowed
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the income itself
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the act or process of endowing
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(usually plural) natural talents or qualities
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of endowment
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Anglo-French endowement; equivalent to endow + -ment
Explanation
An endowment is a gift. It might be money given to an institution like a college. Or, an endowment might be a natural gift, say of a physical attribute or a talent. If you lack the endowment of musical talent, you could play the tambourine. To endow means "to give or bequeath," and the background of the word endowment goes back to the 15th Century, where it was used to refer to money or property that is given to an institution. An example can be found in the National Endowment for the Arts, an organization dedicated to providing grants to fund artistic endeavors. Your natural endowments — speed, agility, endurance — make you an excellent soccer player. If only you could wake up in time for practice.
Vocabulary lists containing endowment
Giving Words
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The Federalist Papers, No. 10 by James Madison
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The Glass Menagerie
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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.
See Examples For:
He directed the board to notify him when the endowment has raised the money and give the court at least 60 day’s notice before it installs an inscription.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
He also introduced him to the chief of Princeton’s endowment, who invested $10 million in Thrive’s first institutional fund.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Even Harvard’s endowment was revealed to hold $2.2 billion in SpaceX shares as of the end of the second quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Harvard University’s endowment fund separately disclosed a $2.2 billion SpaceX stake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
No matter what his or her genetic endowment, no one person’s immune system has enough different HLAs to identify every strain of every virus.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Typically, a hedge fund of Situational’s size has an investor base dominated by institutions, from pension plans and university endowments to sovereign-wealth funds and private banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Nearly 200 private colleges borrowed from restricted endowments in 2025, up from 131 in 2021, according to estimates from Perspective Data Science, a higher-education financial consultant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The percentage of schools drawing down endowments at 15% tripled to 5%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“What happened during that period was that a consensus emerged,” Eustis said, noting that it was expressed in the form of national endowments, state arts agencies, public policy institutes and corporate philanthropic departments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
His father was a successful insurance executive, so life was always comfortable, and Edwin enjoyed a wealth of physical endowments, too.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
