established
Syllables: es·tab·lished/ɪˈstæb.lɪʃt/
established is the simple past and past participle of establish.
Adjective
established (comparative more established, superlative most established)
- Having been in existence for a long time and therefore recognized and generally accepted.
- Near-synonyms: long-standing, accomplished (of faits accomplis), in place
- Synonyms:
- long-standing, accomplished, in place
- Having been successful for a long time and therefore recognized and generally respected.
- Near-synonym: accomplished
- Synonyms:
- accomplished
- Of a religion, church etc.: formally recognized by a state as being official within that area.
- Anglicanism did manage to strengthen its position in the southern English American colonies after Charles II's restoration (even in cosmopolitan New York), gaining established status in six out of the eventual thirteen.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 731
- Of any social or economic entity: part of the establishment (“groups with socioeconomic power”).
- Explicitly defined, described or recognized as a reference.
Meaning of establish
Verb
establish (third-person singular simple present establishes, present participle establishing, simple past and past participle established)
- To make stable or firm; to confirm.
- Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8
- To form; to found; to institute; to set up in business.
- But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 6:18
- To appoint or adopt, as officers, laws, regulations, guidelines, etc.; to enact; to ordain.
- By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
- To prove and cause to be accepted as true; to demonstrate.
- to establish a fact
Synonyms of established
Forms of established
| comparative | more established |
|---|---|
| superlative | most established |
Origin of established
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Words formed from established
Phrases with established
Questions about established
- What does established mean?
- Established means having been in existence for a long time and therefore recognized and generally accepted.
- What is established the simple past and past participle of?
- Established is the simple past and past participle of establish.
- What part of speech is established?
- Established is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce established?
- Established is pronounced /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃt/.
Words near established in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: established (page history and authors); establish (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-established.ogg.
Cite this entry: “established.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/established. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.