bounty
noun, plural boun·ties.
Origin of bounty
SYNONYMS FOR bounty
synonym study for bounty
OTHER WORDS FROM bounty
boun·ty·less, adjectiveWords nearby bounty
VOCAB BUILDER
What does bounty mean?
A bounty is a reward, especially one offered in an official way for the capture of someone or something.
This sense of the word most often refers to the reward sought by bounty hunters for tracking down and capturing fugitive criminals (or, in older times, killing them). A more recent use of the word refers to the reward offered for identifying a software vulnerability in a company’s or organization’s system.
In a broader sense, the word bounty means a generous gift or generosity in general. This sense of the word is most often used in a poetic way, such as referring to crops as the bounty of the land. The H.M.S. Bounty, the ship aboard which the notorious mutiny occurred, was probably named after this sense of the word.
Example: The bounty offered for the capture of Billy the Kid was $500—dead or alive.
Where does bounty come from?
The first records of the word bounty come from the 1200s. It comes from the Latin bonitās, meaning “goodness,” from the Latin bonus, meaning “good.” (The English word bonus comes from the same Latin word.) Bounty was first used in English to mean “goodness.” Eventually, it came to mean “generosity,” and then “gift,” and then “reward.”
When it means “gift,” bounty often refers to natural gifts from the earth. Nature’s bounty refers to things like fruits and vegetables. The bounty of the sea is fish.
Bounty was once used to refer to a payment made by the government to sailors or soldiers after a war. But today it’s most commonly used to refer to the reward sought by bounty hunters. If someone says there’s a bounty on your head, it means there’s a reward for your capture. In popular culture, bounty hunters are most often seen in tales of the American Wild West. They’re often depicted as gunslingers out to get the bounties for criminals who are “wanted dead or alive.” Several bounty hunters also appear in the Star Wars series, including Boba Fett and the character known as the Mandalorian.
In real life, bounties are sometimes offered for the killing or capture of animals, such as invasive snakes.
They’re also sometimes paid to white hat hackers who discover bugs or security gaps in software and websites and let the owners know about them. Google, for example, has a long-running bounty program that pays people for discovering such flaws in its systems.
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What are some other forms related to bounty?
- bountiful (adjective)
- bountyless (adjective)
What are some synonyms for bounty?
What are some words that share a root or word element with bounty?
What are some words that often get used in discussing bounty?
How is bounty used in real life?
Bounty most often refers to the reward sought by bounty hunters.
also i enjoy that this series suggests that the star wars universe is like John Wick where every other person is a bounty hunter
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) November 25, 2019
Wow my first @Google Bug Bounty 🙂 #Google #Bug #Blogger #Vulnerability pic.twitter.com/I4AZbxC5bD
— Mohamed A. Basset (@SymbianSyMoh) May 15, 2014
We envision a society that protects the earth, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
— Chicago Rising (@ChicagoRising) February 1, 2014
Try using bounty!
Is bounty used correctly in the following sentence?
The sultan welcomed the travelers with a bounty of delicious fruits.