had
8 synonyms and 0 antonyms for had, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — Past tense and past participle of have: to have owned, held, experienced or received something in the past.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. verb
Past tense and past participle of have: to have owned, held, experienced or received something in the past.
“We had two cars until last summer.”
2. verb informal
In 'been had', to have been cheated, tricked or taken advantage of.
“Forty pounds for that? You've been had.”
How to use had
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Neutral. The contracted forms 'd (I'd, they'd) stand for had in the past perfect and for would elsewhere, so the following verb form settles which is meant.
Etymology
From Middle English hadde (preterite), yhad (past participle), from Old English hæfde (first and third person singular preterite), ġehæfd (past participle), from Proto-Germanic *habdaz, past and past participle stem of *habjaną (“to have”), equivalent to have + -ed. Cognate with Dutch had, German hatte, Swedish hade, I...
Full origin of had →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between had and have?
Have is the present form, used for what is true now: I have a car. Had is the past form, used for what was true before and may no longer be: I had a car. As auxiliaries, have builds the present perfect (I have seen it) and had the past perfect (I had seen it).
When do you use had instead of have?
Use had for anything finished in the past, and specifically for the past perfect when one past event happened before another: the train had left before we reached the platform. If both events are in the present or reach up to now, use have.