FOUNDER (founder)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: founder   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does founder mean? 

• FOUNDER (noun)
  The noun FOUNDER has 3 senses:

1. inflammation of the laminated tissue that attaches the hoof to the foot of a horse

2. a person who founds or establishes some institution

3. a worker who makes metal castings

  Familiarity information: FOUNDER used as a noun is uncommon.

• FOUNDER (verb)
  The verb FOUNDER has 4 senses:

1. fail utterly; collapse

2. sink below the surface

3. break down, literally or metaphorically

4. stumble and nearly fall

  Familiarity information: FOUNDER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOUNDER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inflammation of the laminated tissue that attaches the hoof to the foot of a horse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

founder; laminitis

Hypernyms ("founder" is a kind of...):

inflammation; redness; rubor (a response of body tissues to injury or irritation; characterized by pain and swelling and redness and heat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who founds or establishes some institution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beginner; father; founder; founding father

Context example:

George Washington is the father of his country

Hypernyms ("founder" is a kind of...):

conceiver; mastermind; originator (someone who creates new things)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "founder"):

cofounder (one of a group of founders)

coloniser; colonizer (someone who helps to found a colony)

foundress (a woman founder)

Derivation:

found (set up or lay the groundwork for)

found (set up or found)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A worker who makes metal castings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("founder" is a kind of...):

skilled worker; skilled workman; trained worker (a worker who has acquired special skills)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "founder"):

bell founder (a person who casts metal bells)

• FOUNDER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they founder    ... he / she / it founders   
Past simple: foundered   
Past participle: foundered   
-ing form: foundering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail utterly; collapse

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

fall flat; fall through; flop; founder

Context example:

The project foundered

Hypernyms (to "founder" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The business is going to founder

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sink below the surface

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "founder" is one way to...):

go down; go under; settle; sink (go under)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

foundering ((of a ship) sinking)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Break down, literally or metaphorically

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break; cave in; collapse; fall in; founder; give; give way

Context example:

The roof finally gave under the weight of the ice

Hypernyms (to "founder" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

abandon; give up (stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims)

burst; collapse (cause to burst)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "founder"):

go off; implode (burst inward)

buckle; crumple (fold or collapse)

flop (fall loosely)

break (curl over and fall apart in surf or foam, of waves)

sink; slide down; slump (fall or sink heavily)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Stumble and nearly fall

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

the horses foundered

Hypernyms (to "founder" is one way to...):

stumble; trip (miss a step and fall or nearly fall)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

The volume of Plutarch’s Lives which I possessed contained the histories of the first founders of the ancient republics.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

This phenomenon is often called a founder effect.

(Founder Mutation, NCI Dictionary)

Earlier this year Tesla’s founder Elon Musk announced that a new long-haul truck would be revealed in September but did not mention plans to make it self-driving.

(Tesla to Test Self-driving Electric Trucks, VOA News)

My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Why, Daisy, old boy, dumb-foundered!” laughed Steerforth, shaking my hand heartily, and throwing it gaily away.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Originally from China and now ubiquitous, Rattus norvegicus is the founder strain for many strains of rat used in biomedical research today.

(BN, Rat Strain, NCI Thesaurus)

I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory school, of which I am the founder and principal.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They foundered at sea, and were never heard of more, and I say that the crews of them were murdered men.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To my surprise, my clothes had dried on me and there seemed no indications of catching cold, either from the last soaking or from the prolonged soaking from the foundering of the Martinez.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed by Miss Stoper.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)