foundered

verb

Definition of founderednext
past tense of founder
1
as in collapsed
to be unsuccessful the theater company foundered after its corporate funding dried up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in tumbled
to fall down or in as a result of physical pressure the twin towers started to sway and suddenly foundered

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for foundered
  1. collapsed
  2. went
  3. failed
  4. folded
  5. struggled
Verb
  • Yet his regime collapsed within days of the start of a coordinated rebel offensive.
    Hamidreza Azizi, Foreign Affairs, 23 Dec. 2024
  • The 150ft section of the pier that collapsed, which included a restroom, was being worked on after it had been damaged by storms in the past.
    Hannah Parry, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024
Definition of collapsed
Verb
  • Those bleak years devastated the American rail industry, as revenue fell by 50 percent from 1928 to 1933, and a third of the country’s railroads went into bankruptcy.
    Patrick Sauer, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Dec. 2024
  • Someone won a $68 million jackpot in New York on Christmas Eve in 2002, but that prize went unclaimed.
    Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 24 Dec. 2024
Definition of went
Verb
  • Ice in contact with a moldy chute and a knife in contact with a trash can while being used are two of the reasons an Oakland Park grocery store failed state inspection Tuesday.
    David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
  • And when streaming was in its early stages, companies like Netflix tried—and often failed—to emulate HBO’s success with their own meaty, cerebral dramas.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
Definition of failed
Verb
  • They are found soon after out on the ice, naked bodies tangled and frozen together in a pile, with their clothes neatly folded on the snow.
    Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
  • That image has long since been folded into Guardiola’s mythology.
    Rory Smith, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Definition of folded
Verb
  • The Bears offense struggled under coordinator Shane Waldron, so he was fired.
    Kevin Fishbain, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
  • When Barbra Streisand struggled with the replacement orchestrations during a recording session, the conductor had Cullen’s original scores on hand.
    Darryn King, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
Definition of struggled
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near foundered

founder

foundered

foundering

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Foundered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foundered. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on foundered

Nglish: Translation of foundered for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

Word of the Year 2024 | Polarization

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
white rubber duck stands out in a row of yellow ducks
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.