been

[bin, ben] / bɪn, bɛn /

VERB

exist

Synonyms

STRONG

abide act breathe continue do endure hold inhabit last live move obtain persist prevail remain rest stand stay subsist survive

WEAK

be alive go on have being have place

Antonyms

STRONG

cease depart die discontinue forsake give up go halt idle leave lose pass quit refuse reject stop

VERB

happen

Synonyms

STRONG

befall occur transpire

WEAK

come about come to pass take place

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mastercard has been a public company for 20 years, but it’s been operating for almost 60 years.

From MarketWatch • May 25, 2026

Major AI assistants let users turn off memory entirely, and each offers some way to view, edit or delete what’s been stored.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026

Uncapped defenders Eric Garcia and Marc Pubill have been called up after impressing for Barcelona and Atletico Madrid respectively.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

He sees Mastercard as a leader in cybersecurity, identity offerings and analytics, while Visa has been highlighting things like marketing, account-to-account payments and issuer and core processing.

From MarketWatch • May 25, 2026

If we hadn’t been driving for only one hour, I’d almost believe the bus took a wrong turn and ended up in Browning, Montana.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith