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:
They brought together evidence that was already scattered throughout scientific research and combined it with their own consistent data set.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Wouldn’t an entire town and all of witchy history knowing your family’s lore present its own unique challenges in the age of the smartphone?
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
After 01:00, Hugo is seen wandering the corridor on his own.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
I honestly don’t know whether this executive VP is an unwitting victim who has been persuaded to invest their own cash, or whether they are an agent of the alleged scammer.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
The Duke and Duchess played many themselves, and they also encouraged their servants to come up with ideas of their own.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
Andrew Hobbins from Right to Roam North West said: "This land should be free to be enjoyed by the people regardless who owns it."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Altman and Elon Musk, who owns xAI, both agreed with Amodei's assessment.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
Dema, who owns a marketing firm in Chicago, put his team to work and solicited help from friends, including a Stanford psychologist who helped design the chatbot’s personality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
“This is a woman who owns everything she is, who never tells a single lie or tries to obscure what she wants,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
I says to myself, ‘If I ain’t a gentleman, nor yet ain’t got no learning, I’m the owner of such. All on you owns stock and land; which on you owns a brought-up London gentleman?’
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
The spouses can retain assets they owned at the outset, but any appreciation in those assets over the course of the marriage are typically divided equally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, has warned about the opaque nature of insurance companies that are partly or fully owned by private-equity firms.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
Fear is exactly what was struck in some Malibu residents since early Tuesday, when the sinkhole opened up in front of a beachside property owned by actor Nicolas Cage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the space of a few hours, the family had lost almost everything they owned.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Uh-oh, Cheese,” Owen said, looking at the place on his wrist where he’d be wearing a watch if he owned one.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Such was Rangers' dominance, their complete owning of their visitors in every conceivable category, the Celtic managerial brains trust seemed just as lost as every one of their players on the field.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
“You should not expect me or anyone else to make this token more valuable for you. $LAPTOP isn’t just about owning something, it’s about saying something.”
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
Once she worked her way up to owning three pairs, she felt rich.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
For example, how much more yield would people then demand for owning bonds when appreciating assets like stocks are shielded?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
I’d always imagined the whiff had something to do with owning a small-time T-shirt shop in a small-time town and dealing with messed-up small-town teens, such as myself, during most of his waking hours.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
