Ownership

//ˈoʊnɚʃɪp// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of having complete legal control of something; possession; proprietorship. countable, uncountable

    "Other evidence of former ownerships such as notice-boards, number plates, and makers' plates, are often discovered unexpectedly. […] It has not been used for many years, and although it was impracticable to photograph the engine in the small confines of the shed it was possible to obtain a picture of the plate which it still carries showing the former ownership."

  2. 2
    the act of having and controlling property wordnet
  3. 3
    Responsibility for or control over something. countable, uncountable

    "The successful candidate will take ownership of all internal design projects."

  4. 4
    the relation of an owner to the thing possessed; possession with the right to transfer possession to others wordnet
  5. 5
    the state or fact of being an owner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
possessiondominionlandholdinglordshipmonopolyowndom

Example

More examples

"Management of a company is different from ownership of a company."

Etymology

From owner + -ship.

Related phrases

absentee ownershipco-ownershipcommunity ownershipcross-ownershipholiday ownershiphome ownershipmulti-ownershipownership equitypublic ownershipstate ownershippossession ofproperty having

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Leadership and Management Language

Vocabulary for strategy updates, one-on-ones, and performance alignment.

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