adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   simple past and past participle of earn form-of, participle, past

Adjective

1. 1
   Not paid for; appearing in media on its own merits. not-comparable

   "Earned media has a number of advantages. It's “free” in the sense that clients are not “billed” for the earned media placement."

Adjective

1. 1
   gained or acquired; especially through merit or as a result of effort or action wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

attaineddeserveddueentitledjustifiedmerited

Antonyms

All antonyms

unearned

Example

More examples

"My next door neighbor is a virtuoso whose skills with the piano have earned him a name among music experts."

Related phrases

a penny saved is a penny earnedearned mediaearned runearned run averagehard-earnedmoney won is twice as sweet as money earnedwell-earned

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.