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
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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)
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owns,
present (3rd person singular)
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owned,
past participle, past
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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.
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on one's own,
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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
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(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
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to become fulfilled
she really came into her own when she got divorced
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to receive what is due to one
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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
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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:
Businesses are making their own calls about smart glasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
However, Kretinsky has since sold a small part of his own stake, bringing him under 25%.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Young engineers began to create new products, showed them to the military, who took what they wanted and then started their own development, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Mayor Bozzo countered that Amazon has promised to build a pipeline, on its own dime, to bring wastewater to the data center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Best of all, she’ll have her own room to sew, read, and just be.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Schoenbrun has an obvious familiarity with the horror canon, and I would guess owns a dog-eared copy of “Men, Women, and Chainsaws,” Carol J. Clover’s classic book on the genre.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The company that owns iconic Nottingham bike manufacturer Raleigh has begun insolvency proceedings.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The group also controls the tourism company Gaviota, which owns dozens of hotels, sometimes in partnership with international hotel chains, as well as marinas, restaurants, taxi services and car-rental companies.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
The authority’s approval was significant because Paramount owns CBS News, children’s channel Nickelodeon and Channel 5, one of the largest over-the-air television broadcasters in the United Kingdom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
“They know their duties to the family and they act accordingly. In America, no one owns anything, and certainly not another person.”
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
Instagram, which is owned by Meta, has been disabling accounts and taking down some of these pickup or prank videos for violating the platform’s rules against harassment and bullying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Burger King, owned by Restaurant Brands International, earlier this year improved the bun, box, mayo and other elements of its Whopper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Jurors heard Wright was a "weapons fanatic" and "a collector", who owned a number of vintage firearms, old farm machinery and musical instruments.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Trent Park was famed for its fashionable interiors in the 1930s when it was owned by a wealthy politician and guests included Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
As he dug into New Century, however, Park saw that they owned all these subprime mortgages—and he could see from their own statements that the quality of these loans was frighteningly poor.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Because Japanese institutions are the world’s largest cross-border creditors, rising yields at home weaken the case for owning foreign debt and give capital parked in U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
While some people have the interest and patience to figure out how these expensive appliances work, others don’t understand the long-term maintenance and costs associated with owning them, Linn said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
The number of 25-year-olds owning their own home has plummeted from 43% in the mid 1980s to just 15%.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The suit argues that owning the Golden Globes would “solidify a vertical and horizontal monopoly on the awards market.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
I thought she’d appreciate me owning it, because that’s all you hear once you get inside.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
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.
