Word.ws English Dictionary

bought and paid for

bought and paid for adjective: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bought, paid for. Also the simple past and past participle of buy and pay for.

Adjective

bought and paid for

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bought, paid for.
  2. Corrupted by money from special interests; bribed.
    • Frank you are bought and paid for. Bought and paid for. You are here to do what I say when I say it.2000, Thomas Hollyday, Slave Graves, →ISBN
    • Just like bought-and-paid-for politicians and bought-and-paid-for media, bought-and-paid-for scientists are an instrument of corporate power.2000, Philip Shabecoff, Earth Rising: American Environmentalism in the 21st Century, →ISBN

Also used as

bought and paid for is also the simple past and past participle of buy and pay for.

Questions about bought and paid for

What does bought and paid for mean?
Bought and paid for means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bought, paid for.
What part of speech is bought and paid for?
Bought and paid for is an adjective.

Words near bought and paid for in the dictionary

  1. bought
  2. bought a dog and barked oneself
  3. bought a pup
  4. bought a ticket to
  5. bought air
  6. bought and paid for
  7. bought back
  8. bought down
  9. bought in
  10. bought into
  11. bought it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bought and paid for (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “bought and paid for.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bought_and_paid_for. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.