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establish

verb

Simple meaning

To create or start something new, like a business or organization

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihstablish

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪsˈtæblɪʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To form; to found; to institute; to set up in business.

  2. transitive

    To appoint or adopt, as officers, laws, regulations, guidelines, etc.; to enact; to ordain.

  3. transitive

    To make stable or firm; to confirm.

  4. transitive

    To prove and cause to be accepted as true; to demonstrate.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To form; to found; to institute; to set up in business.

Used this way, establish is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Business/professional

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

helped establish

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • launch

    Set up or found.

  • set up

    To found; to start (a business, scheme).

  • base

    Use as a basis for; found on.

  • prove

    Be shown or be found to be.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • establishedadjectiveInflected form

    Brought about or set up or accepted.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • establishmentnounDerived noun

    The act of forming or establishing something.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • established churchnounCompound term

    The church that is recognized as the official church of a nation.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to form

lay downset up

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.