entitle
Americanverb (used with object)
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entitles,
present (3rd person singular)
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entitled,
past participle, past
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entitling
present participle
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to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something; furnish with grounds for laying claim.
His executive position entitled him to certain courtesies rarely accorded others.
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to call by a particular title or name.
What was the book entitled?
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to designate (a person) by an honorary title.
verb
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to give (a person) the right to do or have something; qualify; allow
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to give a name or title to
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to confer a title of rank or honour upon
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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entitlesimple
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entitlessimple
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have entitledperfect
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has entitledperfect
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am entitlingprogressive
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are entitlingprogressive
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is entitlingprogressive
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have been entitlingperfect progressive
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has been entitlingperfect progressive
Past
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entitledsimple
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had entitledperfect
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was entitlingprogressive
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were entitlingprogressive
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had been entitlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of entitle
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English entitlen, from Anglo-French entitler, variant of Middle French entituler, from Late Latin intitulāre; see en- 1, title
Explanation
Use the verb entitle to mean "give a right to." At some schools, being a senior might entitle students to go out for lunch on Fridays. The most common use of entitle is the one you might see on a coupon, like one for a free ride at the state fair that entitles the holder to one free ride on the Octopus of Terror. When you entitle someone, you give them a claim to something, like when you entitle someone the best goalie in Canada, or make someone a member of the noble class, like when the Queen entitles, or gives a title to, a worthy person.
Vocabulary lists containing entitle
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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The Bluest Eye
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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:
Teachers don’t need a master’s in education to teach, though collective-bargaining agreements sometimes entitle them to pay raises if they get one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
That would automatically entitle them to move around Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Just following this process would entitle employers’ decisions to “significant deference” from the courts — a “safe harbor,” or legal shield, meant to guard those decisions from challenge.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
“The idea was always, I pay the property owner, someone pays me rent, I more or less break even and I have time to entitle the property for something bigger.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2026
That’s how long Chacko and Rahel had to wait for the pink receipt that would entitle them to collect Ammu’s remains.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Whether that entitles him to the money is less cut and dried, attorneys say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
With nothing left in her garden, Musole took the deal, which also entitles her to 11 pounds of cornmeal, a staple of local diets, every month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
The courts have established that making a charitable gift is a protected free speech activity that entitles donors to certain privacy rights.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
The parents argued that the free exercise clause of the First Amendment entitles them to these accommodations.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2025
“I didn’t think you did. I said, ‘In many states a hunting license entitles you to one deer and no more.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
In November, voters will decide whether to approve a proposed half-cent county sales tax, entitled “Protect San Diego County Health and Safety Act.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
This John Stewart is purposefully calm and assured, even when Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan, an entitled jerk clinging to crusted-over glory, provokes him.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
If 30 overs had been completed, spectators would not have been entitled to any money back.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
“His former lawyer is now holding the settlement funds, maintaining that he is entitled to attorney’s fees.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Unassumingly entitled “Experiments in Plant Hybridization” and published in a scarcely read journal in 1866, the paper was written in dense German and packed with the kind of mathematical tables that Darwin particularly despised.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
A pasta PSA: After a yearslong hiatus, Olive Garden is selling 10,000 Never-Ending Pasta Passes on Thursday, entitling buyers to 13 weeks of unlimited pasta, soup, salad, and breadsticks.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
In addition to the cash consideration, Theravance shareholders will receive contingent value rights entitling them to 80% of net proceeds from any future license, divestiture or other monetization of ampreloxetine within the next 10 years.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
People must pay £1 per year to join, and spending £5 at the store enables them to choose 12 items, with £7.50 entitling them to 18 items.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
In 2023, Newsom extended that version of the program for another five years and added a “refundable” feature entitling studios to cash payments from the state when their credits exceed their tax bills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
There at another desk I was handed a railway pass entitling me to transportation through Germany to the Dutch border.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
