founder
1 Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
founders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foundered,
past participle, past
-
foundering
present participle
-
(of a ship, boat, etc.) to fill with water and sink.
-
to fall or sink down, as buildings, ground, etc..
Built on a former lake bed, the building has foundered nearly ten feet.
-
to become wrecked; fail utterly.
The project foundered because public support was lacking.
-
to stumble, break down, or go lame, as a horse.
His mount foundered on the rocky path.
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to become ill from overeating.
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Veterinary Pathology. (of a horse) to suffer from laminitis.
verb (used with object)
-
founders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foundered,
past participle, past
-
foundering
present participle
-
to cause to fill with water and sink.
Rough seas had foundered the ship in mid-ocean.
-
Veterinary Pathology. to cause (a horse) to break down, go lame, or suffer from laminitis.
noun
noun
verb
-
(of a ship) to sink
-
to break down or fail
the project foundered
-
to sink into or become stuck in soft ground
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to fall in or give way; collapse
-
(of a horse) to stumble or go lame
-
archaic (of animals, esp livestock) to become ill from overeating
noun
noun
noun
Usage
Founder is sometimes wrongly used where flounder is meant: this unexpected turn of events left him floundering (not foundering )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foundersimple
-
founderssimple
-
have founderedperfect
-
has founderedperfect
-
am founderingprogressive
-
are founderingprogressive
-
is founderingprogressive
-
have been founderingperfect progressive
-
has been founderingperfect progressive
Past
-
founderedsimple
-
had founderedperfect
-
was founderingprogressive
-
were founderingprogressive
-
had been founderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of founder1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English found(o)ur, foundere, fundre “original builder of a city, church, castle, or city; founder of a country,” from Anglo-French fundur, from Old French fondeor, from Latin fundātōr-, stem of fundātor; see origin at found 1; see also -er 1 ( def. )
Origin of founder2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English foundren, funder, fonder, from Old French fondrer “to plunge to the bottom, submerge,” from Vulgar Latin fundorāre (unattested), derivative of fundor-, an s -stem noun interpreted as stem of Latin fundus, actually an o -stem noun (stem fund- ) “bottom”
Origin of founder3
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English foundour, founder, from Old French fondeur, from fondre “to melt, cast”; see origin at found 3, -er 1
Explanation
The person who creates an organization or a company is known as the founder. Founder is also a verb meaning "fail miserably," which is something a company's founder hopes the company will never do. As a noun, founder means "the beginner or originator of something." You might talk about the founder of a nation, the founder of club, or the founder of a website. As a verb, founder can mean “stumble,” like when you trip and fall, but more generally it means "collapse or fall apart." A sports team might founder by slumping on a ten-game losing streak; a ship that sinks in a bad storm can be said to have foundered at sea.
Vocabulary lists containing founder
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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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:
Those investors and others signed up for the vision of Leopold Aschenbrenner, Situational’s founder, age 24, who managed to build a $45 billion investing powerhouse at the center of the artificial-intelligence trade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Authorities in New Jersey are investigating the death of Mohamed Coulibaly, the founder of an e-commerce scheme that recruited professional athletes to invest in seemingly bogus websites.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
Sue Schwar, the founder of South Essex Wildlife Hospital, said she was "100% sure" the deaths had been caused by exposure to blue-green algae.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
There’s a critical difference between Erle and Lee’s early-graduation journeys, according to Beth Hendler-Grunt, founder and president of career-coaching firm Next Great Step.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
“To sing a song about attacking King Degravaunt, our greatest hero, the founder of our elfin nation?”
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Venture capitalists are increasingly questioning startup founders about their long-term commitment and potential early sales to larger AI labs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He said he has seen more founders getting hard-to-resist offers from frontier AI developers, sometimes called AI labs, and other big technology companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The flood of capital invested in AI founders has likely opened the door for some less-than-hardcore founders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Known as the "Skype mafia" effect, founders and early employees took the experience they gained from the company and went on to start their own companies, inspiring others to do the same.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
The founders of the PAC were all well known to me.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Instead, they foundered in the breeze, squeezing out whatever bitter juice was left in a dirge that would prove to drag on for at least another week.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
But then the Fed foundered on fundamentals and inflation surged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Sure enough, just days after a 2-0 home win against Athletic Club in the Champions League, Newcastle foundered on the road once again - despite going ahead through Harvey Barnes.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2025
And for decades, every attempt to create legal access has foundered on the rocky shoals of property rights and lumbering bureaucracy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2025
It would not be long before she foundered and sunk.
From "The Voyage Of The Frog" by Gary Paulsen
But by the time Polanco became a free agent last winter, his career was foundering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025
What’s more, in the Spy magazine era, Mr. Trump was just a local nuisance, a braggart presiding over a foundering casino-hotel empire.
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2024
In 2019, she also became president of an education organization called Achievement for All Children, which was chosen by state officials to turn around a foundering public school in Robeson County.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
On this evening, the colleagues had more urgent concerns on their minds: how to salvage a foundering trip in Asia that was launched to find a novel food product to import to the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2023
The men took turns hacking ice off the thwarts and bows, and bailing to keep the small boats from foundering.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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.
