# owned

/ˈoʊnd/ (US) · /ˈəʊnd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/owned
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. past possession

verb · CEFR A2

the past form of 'own', used when something belonged to you.

For teachers: the simple past and past participle of 'own', indicating legal or rightful possession in a prior time.

- My grandfather owned this farm for fifty years before he retired.
- The family owned the estate for generations, maintaining the original architecture even as the surrounding town modernised rapidly.

### 2. having an owner

adjective · CEFR B2

belonging to a specific person or group.

For teachers: characterised by having a specific type of owner; frequently used in compound adjectives.

- The city has many small, family-owned businesses on the main street.
- The report highlighted the growth of employee-owned cooperatives as a sustainable alternative to traditional corporate structures.

### 3. defeated in a game

verb · CEFR C1 · Slang · Informal

to be completely defeated or embarrassed, especially in a video game.

For teachers: to be utterly defeated or dominated by an opponent, typically in online gaming or competitive debate.

- I got totally owned in the final round of the tournament.
- After bragging about his skills all week, he was completely owned by a novice player in the first five minutes of the match.

Teaching tip: This sense is very common in internet culture; it is often intentionally misspelled as 'pwned' in text.

## Examples

- She has owned this car for over ten years.
- The family has owned the local bakery for three generations and remains a staple of the community.
- Although the corporation officially owned the land, local residents maintained that they held ancestral rights to the water sources located within the property boundaries.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.