own
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or belonging to oneself or itself (usually used after a possessive to emphasize the idea of ownership, interest, or relation conveyed by the possessive).
He spent only his own money.
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(used as an intensifier to indicate oneself as the sole agent of some activity or action, preceded by a possessive).
He insists on being his own doctor.
verb (used with object)
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owns,
present (3rd person singular)
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owned,
past participle, past
-
owning
present participle
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to have or hold as one's own; possess.
They own several homes.
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to acknowledge or admit.
to own a fault.
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to acknowledge as one's own; recognize as having full claim, authority, power, dominion, etc..
He owned his child before the entire assembly. They owned the king as their lord.
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to totally defeat, gain control over, or dominate in a competition.
I totally owned the last two levels of the game.
He owned the season from beginning to end and took the world title.
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to take over a (a computer system, program, or computer) without authorization.
The network has been owned by a hacker.
verb (used without object)
-
owns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
owned,
past participle, past
-
owning
present participle
idioms
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get one's own back, to get revenge and thereby a sense of personal satisfaction, as for a slight or a previous setback; get even with somebody or something.
He saw the award as a way of getting his own back for all the snubs by his colleagues.
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of one's own, belonging to oneself.
She had never had a room of her own.
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come into one's own,
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to take possession of that which is due or owed one.
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to receive the recognition that one's abilities merit.
She finally came into her own as a sculptor of the first magnitude.
-
-
on one's own,
-
by dint of one's own efforts, resources, or sense of responsibility; independently.
Because she spoke the language, she got around the country very well on her own.
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living or functioning without dependence on others; independent.
My son's been on his own for several years.
-
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hold one's own,
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to maintain one's position or condition.
The stock market seems to be holding its own these days.
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to be equal to the opposition.
He can hold his own in any fight.
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determiner
-
-
(intensifier)
John's own idea
your own mother
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( as pronoun )
I'll use my own
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on behalf of oneself or in relation to oneself
he is his own worst enemy
-
-
to become fulfilled
she really came into her own when she got divorced
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to receive what is due to one
-
-
informal to have revenge
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to maintain one's situation or position, esp in spite of opposition or difficulty
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without help
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by oneself; alone
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verb
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(tr) to have as one's possession
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to confess or admit; acknowledge
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rare (tr; takes a clause as object) to concede
I own that you are right
Synonym Usage
See have.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ownsimple
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ownssimple
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have ownedperfect
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has ownedperfect
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am owningprogressive
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are owningprogressive
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is owningprogressive
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have been owningperfect progressive
-
has been owningperfect progressive
Past
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ownedsimple
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had ownedperfect
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was owningprogressive
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were owningprogressive
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had been owningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of own
First recorded before 900; (adjective) Middle English owen, Old English āgen (cognate with German eigen, Old Norse eigenn ), originally the past participle of āgan “to possess” ( see owe); (verb) Middle English ownen, Old English āgnian, āhnian, derivative of āgen
Explanation
If you own something, it belongs to you. You can use the verb own to describe possession of any kind of property, ranging from a saucepan to a fancy mansion. If something can be bought, it can be owned. You wouldn’t say that you own people or intangible objects. But you might own a car, for example, and if you’re lucky, you might own a lot of really cool shoes. Own can also be an adjective describing something that belongs to a particular person, like your own bedroom, or your own mind. If you admit to something, you "own up to it," admitting the responsibility belongs to you.
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:
Unlike other schools, Mission College does not have its own tennis courts and rents courts at a nearby park to practice and play its home matches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
A year later Ms. Hochul won a term of her own, but it was closer than expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
"I do not believe the officer's conduct was targeted, however I do believe that it was deliberate and intentional and by her own admission had become a habit in between shifts," Tedds said.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
In the community college system, recruitment is crucial, and competing against schools such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, and Pierce—which have their own facilities—is always an uphill battle for Mission College.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
“Figured you wouldn’t have much time to eat, serving on your own like that, with no prep.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Meta, Snap, TikTok, X and Google, which owns YouTube, have all declined BBC requests for comment, and have not made public statements about the legislation.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
He went on to describe his relationship with a niece who has Down syndrome and looks like him, and to talk about a coffee shop his family owns that employs people with her disability.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Hayes is also extremely bullish on Alibaba because “it owns equity in pretty much every AI startup in Asia,” and he highlights its Moonshot holding, which could go public soon with a $50 billion valuation.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
CEO Ryan Cohen buys 844,000 shares in the videogame retailer, meaning he now owns more than 42 million overall.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
“I like exploring. My grandpa owns this land.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
When Prigozhin turned 20, his father put him in charge of luxury villas and apartment buildings owned by the family holding company, researchers said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
In order to register for the website, owned by Paramount Global, Salazar signed up for 247Sports’ online newsletter.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2026
Electric bill sticker shock is common for customers of investor-owned utilities, but less so for municipally owned utilities such as DWP.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Hundreds of tents have occupied Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square since she was taken away on a stretcher last month after the real estate company that owned her flat drastically hiked the rent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
That fact alone was enough to make everyone wonder at once how much more of this stuff was out there, and who owned it.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Costs associated with owning a home such as electricity, home insurance and property tax have gone up in recent months as well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
In the suit, they accused the couple of lying about owning the surrogacy firm and failing to disclose that they already had more than a dozen children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Truckers in California are asking the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to subsidize the high costs of owning and operating zero-emission big rigs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Grant Samms thought he would have been out of his rented apartment in Rockville, Md., and owning a home by age 30.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
In Afghanistan, owning anything American, especially if it wasn’t secondhand, was a sign of wealth.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
