Newfound
adjectiveRecently discovered, gained, or developed.
How to spell newfound
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce newfound
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does newfound mean?
- adjectiveRecently discovered, gained, or developed.
Newfound in a sentence
-
Her newfound confidence helped her lead the meeting with ease.
-
After the promotion he enjoyed a newfound sense of financial security.
Where does newfound come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This is a transparent English compound, joining the native adjective 'new' to 'found', the past participle of the verb 'find'. Both halves come straight from Old English: 'niwe' meaning 'fresh' or 'recent', and 'findan' meaning 'to come upon' or 'discover', whose past form gave us 'found'. The two were welded together to describe something only recently discovered or acquired, and the compound has been written as a single solid word since at least the sixteenth century. Because 'found' here is the participle of 'find' rather than the unrelated verb 'to found' (meaning to establish), the spelling can momentarily mislead, yet both routes happen to land on the same letters. The word keeps a slightly literary flavour, often pairing with abstract nouns such as freedom, confidence, or wealth.
How the word is built
- new (recent, fresh)
- found (past participle of find: discovered, gained)
Fix your spelling for good.
Spelling Garden finds the words you personally get wrong, plants them in a garden, and brings each one back just before you would have forgotten it.
Just five minutes a day is all it takes to fix your spelling.