fund

American  

[fuhnd] / fʌnd /

noun

• funds
  plural

1. a supply of money or pecuniary resources, as for some purpose.

   a fund for his education;

   a retirement fund.

2. supply; stock.

   a fund of knowledge;

   a fund of jewels.

   Synonyms:

   hoard, mine, fount, reservoir, store

3. funds, money immediately available; pecuniary resources.

   to be momentarily without funds.

4. an organization created to administer or manage a fund, as of money invested or contributed for some special purpose.

---

verb (used with object)

• funds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• funded,
  past participle,  past
• funding
  present participle

1. to provide a fund to pay the interest or principal of (a debt).

2. to convert (general outstanding debts) into a more or less permanent debt, represented by interest-bearing bonds.

3. to allocate or provide funds for (a program, project, etc.).

fund British  

/ fʌnd /

noun

1. a reserve of money, etc, set aside for a certain purpose

2. a supply or store of something; stock

   it exhausted his fund of wisdom

---

verb

1. to furnish money to in the form of a fund

2. to place or store up in a fund

3. to convert (short-term floating debt) into long-term debt bearing fixed interest and represented by bonds

4. to provide a fund for the redemption of principal or payment of interest of

5. to accumulate a fund for the discharge of (a recurrent liability)

   to fund a pension plan

6. to invest (money) in government securities See also funds

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• funder
  noun
• overfund
  noun
• underfunding
  noun
• overfund
  verb (used with object)
• prefund
  verb (used with object)
• underfund
  verb (used with object)
• nonfunded
  adjective
• underfunded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• funds
  plural

Participles

• funding
  present
• funded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fund
  simple
• funds
  simple
• have funded
  perfect
• has funded
  perfect
• am funding
  progressive
• are funding
  progressive
• is funding
  progressive
• have been funding
  perfect progressive
• has been funding
  perfect progressive

Past

• funded
  simple
• had funded
  perfect
• was funding
  progressive
• were funding
  progressive
• had been funding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fund
  simple
• will have funded
  perfect
• will be funding
  progressive
• will have been funding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fund

First recorded in 1670–80; from Latin fundus “bottom, estate”; replacing fond ² in most of its senses

Explanation

A fund is a supply of money to be used for a specific purpose. You can start a fund for almost anything, such as your child’s education, a new car, or the establishment of the world’s largest origami collection. Fund can be used as a verb meaning “provide funds for something.” If you’re unable to save up the money to start your origami collection, you might ask a friend to fund it. (We predict she’ll say no.) An organization that raises money for a particular, often charitable, purpose can also be called a fund. We doubt an origami collection warrants its own fund, but there's no harm in trying.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fund funds funded funding

Curo said the extra money was primarily to increase the block's sinking fund, which acts as a long-term savings account for building costs.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Investors can still cash out at any time by selling their shares of the fund.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Tesla’s next task is to prove those sales will generate enough cash to fund its AI ambitions, and that the money it spends on them will reward shareholders.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

Rice said that while there is "some need" for a sinking fund, it was "devastating" for residents.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Immediately, his biggest remaining investor, who had $150 million in the fund, questioned his judgment and threatened to pull his money out.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Then again, at least those with target-date funds have a pile of assets.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

Prize funds are limited, mostly serving as a contribution towards costs.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

The most obvious type would be directly held bonds or bond mutual funds, whose prices tend to drop when interest rates rise.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

The crypto firm has emerged as a serious player in providing swap financing to leveraged exchange-traded funds, or those that let investors amplify their bets on a specific stock or index.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

All over the world corporations began to yank their money out of money market funds, and short-term interest rates spiked as they had never before spiked.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

The University of Chicago and Stanford also began as upstarts funded by private fortunes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

I will be watching margins, operating cash flow, capital spending and management’s explanation of how the expansion will be funded.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

In a release, Leslie’s said it had reached an agreement with more than 80% of its existing lenders to eliminate about 90% of its funded debt, or $685 million.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Patient navigation is already widely used in cancer care and is even funded by Medicaid, Yee said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Even the most generously funded rendition of Beethoven’s ninth would require a meagre third of those forces.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

The city authorities, he said, faced a "very difficult" task with "limited time, limited funding, a limited number of workers."

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

A cushion is not a funding plan, however.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

More than $300 million in local, state and federal funding has been invested in rail protection measures such as sand placement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

"We talk as a nation about wanting growth in every postcode, but at the moment, a lot of us are funding growth in every zip code," Dame Julia said.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Ironically, a big chunk of the funding for Goldman’s initial research had come not from the medical community itself but from the navy.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• capital
• endowment
• foundation
• stock
• supply
• treasury
• trust