EARNED Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

earned

verb

past tense of earn

as in won

to receive as return for effort during my teen years I earned pocket money by mowing lawns

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in deserved

to be or make worthy of (as a reward or punishment) you've earned the afternoon off after all that hard work

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 earned Grant Taylor earned his second save by striking out the side in the ninth inning as the White Sox evened the three-game series with Philadelphia. —

CBS News, 6 June 2026 Staged at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, the musical is in its third run on Broadway — and earned 11 Tony nominations, including for best revival. —

ABC News, 6 June 2026 The quality adjustment problem does not reside in nominal GDP, which simply asks what was spent, earned, or produced in current dollars, but rather in the deflator applied to convert those nominal figures into real terms. —

James Broughel, Forbes.com, 6 June 2026 Hill earned that part against defending state champion Oswego. —

Bobby Narang, Chicago Tribune, 6 June 2026 One of the most innovative gangsters of the 20th century, Frank Lucas earned the title of Harlem drug kingpin in the late-‘60s and early-‘70s by importing high-quality heroin from Southeast Asia and selling it under the street name Blue Magic. —

Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 6 June 2026 Matthews earned his second win of the year. —

Kansas City Star, 6 June 2026 Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco received 12%, while Democrats Katie Porter, a former Orange County congresswoman, and Matt Mahan, the mayor of San José, each earned 5%. —

Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2026 Rachel Godoy hit a three-run home run with two outs in the fifth inning and Destinee Herrera earned her fifth win of the playoffs as Oxnard beat Mission Viejo 3-1 at Deanna Manning Stadium. —

Dan Albano, Oc Register, 31 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for earned

Verb

The place is owned by Nico de Soto who, after getting his start with the Experimental Cocktail Group, won various awards (Most Influential Bartender at Paris's Cocktail & Spirits show in 2014 among others) and then opened his own joint called Mace in New York.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 June 2026
Not bad for a girl won won’t start high school until this fall.

— Stan Awtrey, AJC.com, 4 June 2026