belonged

past tense of belong
1
as in went
to have or be in a usual or proper place your shoes belong in the closet, not in the middle of the living room where people will trip on them

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2
as in pertained
to be the property of a person or group of persons those textbooks belong to the school system and not to the students

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of belonged The jury instructions state that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a conspiracy existed to which the defendant knowingly belonged and that the acts were committed in furtherance of that conspiracy during the defendant’s membership in it. Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 2 June 2026 But it has been taught, somewhere along the way, to perform this devotion and then step around the women who embody it, as though reverence were something that belonged only in stone, only in myth, only safely out of reach of the living. Vogue, 1 June 2026 In March, the French navy seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean that Macron said belonged ‌to Russia’s shadow fleet, which comprises several hundred tankers through which Russia evades sanctions. Joseph Ataman, CNN Money, 1 June 2026 To Nichols, Pratt belonged in the first round. Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 29 May 2026 Grief, which once belonged privately to you and the people around you, now arrives with engagement metrics attached. Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026 Before the interstates, before the road trip became a rite of passage, before the family station wagon became a cultural institution, Americans and cars belonged together. Gil West, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2026 Up until that point, the series could have easily belonged on USA Network or even on NBC proper, where the pilot is going to get primetime one-off airing next week. Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 May 2026 While Quaid belonged the protagonist group fighting superheroes, Doumit was a head-popping villain who was also a politician. Rebecca Aizin, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for belonged
Verb
  • Muncy’s helmet and glasses went flying.
    Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2026
  • Gutierrez, meanwhile, went 3-for-3 and scored twice for the Mustangs, who have won three playoff games by a 41-2 count.
    Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2026
Verb
  • While that ruling pertained only to admissions, the administration last winter notified schools that any differential consideration based on race was unconstitutional.
    ABC News, ABC News, 3 June 2026
  • The central issue pertained to the air compressor drivebelt, which apparently passed a pre-trip inspection despite its poor condition.
    Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 9 May 2026
Verb
  • After some warm Gatorade and Reese's chocolate, and, eventually, a bagel, Kaminer, a vegetarian and intermediate caver, stayed at the local fire captain's house overnight.
    Kristie Keleshian, CBS News, 4 June 2026
  • Presidential elections are still years away, and Biden and her husband have stayed mostly away from the headlines for the past two years.
    Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 4 June 2026
Verb
  • Each person held their sarongs in different ways, over both shoulders or draped on one, around their necks, balled up in a fist, placed neatly on a lap.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 29 May 2026
  • Next week’s launch would have been only New Glenn’s fourth, after its third flight on April 19 placed a satellite for the company AST SpaceMobile in an orbit that was lower than planned because of a malfunction of the rocket’s second stage.
    Lee Billings, Scientific American, 29 May 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Belonged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/belonged. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.

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