Word.ws English Dictionary

founded

Syllables: found·ed/ˈfaʊndɪd/

founded is the simple past and past participle of found.

founded is the simple past and past participle of find.

Meaning of found

Verb (1)

found (third-person singular simple present founds, present participle founding, simple past and past participle founded)

  1. (transitive) To start (an institution or organization).
    • “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
    Synonyms:
    establish
  2. (transitive) To begin building.
  3. (transitive) To use as a foundation; to base.
    • Being left alone with him after they had dined, he obſerved, that however ſtrongly he was convinced of Zeluco’s being the writer of the letter, yet as he had had the precaution to diſguiſe his hand-writing, it would be fruitleſs to found any legal proſecution upon that circumſtance.1789 May 27, [John Moore], chapter XXII, in Zeluco. Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic., volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell...

Verb (2)

found (third-person singular simple present founds, present participle founding, simple past and past participle founded)

  1. (transitive) To melt, especially of metal or glass in an industrial setting.
  2. (transitive) To form by melting a metal and pouring it into a mould; to cast.
    • Whereof to found their engines.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

See all 8 meanings of found

Meaning of find

Verb

find (third-person singular simple present finds, present participle finding, simple past found or (dialectal) fand, past participle found or (dialectal) fand or (archaic) founden)

  1. (transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
    • I found this shell on the beach.
  2. (transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
    • I found my car keys. They were under the couch.
    Synonyms:
    localize, pinpoint
    Antonyms:
    lose, miss
  3. (ditransitive) To locate on behalf of another.
    • I found you a new place to live
  4. (ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment directed to an object or end.
    • Water is found to be a compound substance.
  5. (transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
    • to find leisure; to find means
  6. (transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
    • Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!

See all 17 meanings of find

Adjective

founded (comparative more founded, superlative most founded)

  1. Having a basis.
    • She offered a well-founded hypothesis.
    Synonyms:
    grounded

Synonyms of founded

Forms of founded

comparativemore founded
superlativemost founded

Words formed from founded

Words that rhyme with founded

Questions about founded

What does founded mean?
Founded means having a basis.
What is founded the simple past and past participle of?
Founded is the simple past and past participle of found.
What part of speech is founded?
Founded is an adjective.
How do you pronounce founded?
Founded is pronounced /ˈfaʊndɪd/.

Words near founded in the dictionary

  1. foundationlessness
  2. foundations
  3. foundationwear
  4. foundator
  5. founde
  6. founded
  7. foundedness
  8. foundedst
  9. founden
  10. founder
  11. founder effect

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: founded (page history and authors); found (page history and authors); find (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-founded.ogg.

Cite this entry: “founded.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/founded. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.