ownership
- 1The legal entitlement to possess something and exercise complete control over it.
Ownership of the property transferred to the buyer at closing.
The museum disputes the collector's ownership of the painting.
Similarpossession, proprietorship, title
Note
Built from owner and the suffix -ship, as friendship and kinship are built from their nouns. It usually goes uncountable and keeps company with verbs of handing over: a county council transfers ownership of a station for a nominal £1. It also takes a plural, ownerships, for the successive holders of one thing. H. C. Casserley, writing in Railway Magazine in 1952, reads old notice-boards and number plates as evidence of former ownerships.
- 2Responsibility for or control over something, such as a project, decision, or problem.
The new manager took ownership of the delayed product launch.
Strong teams encourage every member to feel ownership of the results.
Similarresponsibility, control, accountability, charge
Note
Business English borrowed the legal word for a looser kind of claim: nobody holds title to a design project, but someone answers for it. The phrase to know is take ownership of, which is common in job advertisements and management talk. Unlike the legal sense, it is about accountability rather than property. It implies personal commitment to the outcome, not just a duty formally assigned.
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Origin
Formed from "owner" combined with the suffix "-ship".