taxed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of tax.

   Congress taxed imported steel to protect domestic mills.

   The company was taxed on profits it earned overseas.

   Note

   A regular verb, so one spelling does the work of two forms. It is the simple past in Congress taxed steel, and the participle after have or in the passive, as in was taxed on profits. The form carries every meaning of tax, not only the fiscal ones. A long meeting taxed everyone's patience in the sense of making excessive demands, and the word can also mean to accuse, or to examine accounts and allow or disallow items.

2. 2
   adjective

   Subject to taxation imposed by a government or other authority.

   Luxury vehicles are taxed at a steeper rate than economy cars.

   Most consumer goods are taxed at the point of sale.

   Similartaxable

   Oppositeuntaxed, exempt

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into an adjective, and the line between it and the past-tense verb form is thin: goods are taxed can be read either way. What marks the adjective is grading, as in more taxed and most taxed. A report can compare the most taxed goods with others, and in doing so it describes a state rather than an act of taxing.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2