- own
- [[t]o͟ʊn[/t]]
♦owns, owning, owned1) ADJ: poss ADJ You use own to indicate that something belongs to a particular person or thing.
My wife decided I should have my own shop.
...another group of patients who were taught to change their own dressings...
Why can't I live a normal life in my own country?...
He could no longer trust his own judgement...
His office had its own private entrance.
PRON: poss PRONOwn is also a pronoun.He saw the Major's face a few inches from his own.
2) ADJ: poss ADJ You use own to indicate that something is used by, or is characteristic of, only one person, thing, or group.Jennifer insisted on her own room...
I let her tell me about it in her own way...
Each nation has its own peculiarities when it comes to doing business.
PRON: poss PRONOwn is also a pronoun.This young lady has a sense of style that is very much her own.
3) ADJ: poss ADJ You use own to indicate that someone does something without any help from other people.They enjoy making their own decisions...
Tony also built his own house from his own plans...
He'll have to make his own arrangements.
PRON: poss PRONOwn is also a pronoun.There's no career structure, you have to create your own.
4) VERB If you own something, it is your property.[V n] His father owns a local pub...
[V n] At least three British golf courses are now owned by the Japanese.
5) PHRASE If you have something you can call your own, it belongs only to you, rather than being controlled by or shared with someone else.They don't yet have a country to call their own...
I would like a place I could call my own.
6) PHRASE: V inflects If someone or something comes into their own, they become very successful or start to perform very well because the circumstances are right.The goalkeeper came into his own with a series of brilliant saves...
This is when geraniums and petunias come into their own.
7) PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR on n If you get your own back on someone, you have your revenge on them because of something bad that they have done to you. [mainly BRIT, INFORMAL]Renshaw reveals 20 bizarre ways in which women have got their own back on former loved ones.
8) PHRASE: V inflects If you make something your own, you become involved in it in such a way that people think of it as being related only to you or belonging only to you, rather than to anyone else.Here again is the song that Pavarotti has made his own.
9) PHRASE: n PHR If you say that someone has a particular thing of their own, you mean that that thing belongs or relates to them, rather than to other people.You see, we have a problem of our own...
He set out in search of ideas for starting a company of his own.
10) PHRASE: n PHR If someone or something has a particular quality or characteristic of their own, that quality or characteristic is especially theirs, rather than being shared by other things or people of that type.Groups have a personality of their own...
The cries of the seagulls gave this part of the harbour a fascinating character all of its own.
11) PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR When you are on your own, you are alone.He lives on his own...
I told him how scared I was of being on my own...
I need some time on my own.
Syn:12) PHRASE: PHR after v If you do something on your own, you do it without any help from other people.I work best on my own.
...the jobs your child can do on her own.
Syn:by yourself13) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR after v (disapproval) If you say that someone does something as if they own the place or like they own the place, you are critical of them because they do it in a very arrogant way.He struts around town like he owns the place.
Phrasal Verbs:- own up
English dictionary. 2008.
