Belong
prep, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To have its proper place. intransitive
"Where does this book belong? It belongs on the top shelf."
- 2 be owned by; be in the possession of wordnet
- 3 To have its proper place.; To be accepted in a group. intransitive
"You don’t belong here — get out."
- 4 be a part or adjunct wordnet
- 5 To have its proper place.; To be a part of a group. intransitive, with-to
"I don’t belong to them!"
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 be rightly classified in a class or category wordnet
- 7 To be part of, or the property of. intransitive, with-to
"That house belongs to me."
- 8 be suitable or acceptable wordnet
- 9 To be the spouse or partner of. intransitive, with-to
- 10 be in the right place or situation wordnet
- 11 (followed by to) To be an element of (a set). The symbol ∈ means belongs to. intransitive
"Suppose x belongs to #92;mathbb#123;R#125;…"
- 12 be a member, adherent, inhabitant, etc. (of a group, organization, or place) wordnet
- 13 To be deserved by. obsolete, transitive
"More evils belong us than happen to us."
- 14 To do something habitually or customarily. Cornwall
"Belong. To be accustomed; to be due. He belongs to go every day. The 'bus belongs to start soon."
- 1 Of, belonging to.
"Jim Campbell, Charlie, Dick, ... Fred, lubra b’longa him, me, thass all."
Example
More examples"You belong in a better place than this."
Etymology
From Middle English belongen, bilongen, from Middle English be- + longen (“to be fitting, be suitable”), from Old English langian (“to pertain to, suit”), equivalent to be- + long (“to belong”). Compare Saterland Frisian beloangje (“to attain, reach, meet”), Dutch belangen (“to concern”), German belangen (“to sue, concern”).
Compare Australian Kriol blanga, Bislama blong, Tok Pisin bilong, and Torres Strait Creole blong.
Related phrases
More for "belong"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.