store

store — adjective

1. made and packaged for sale in a shop, rather than being made at home or occurrin

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

made and packaged for sale in a shop, rather than being made at home or occurring naturally

Example

Talia prefers store-bought pasta sauce because she does not have time to make it herself.

store-bought + noun, contrastive with homemade

The cookies at the party were store-bought, but nobody complained because they tasted great.

Common collocations
  • store-bought cake
  • store-bought cookies
  • store-bought sauce
  • store-bought bread
Synonyms
  • shop-bought

    British English equivalent for 'store-bought'

  • ready-made

    emphasises that the item requires no preparation, not just the source of purchase

  • off-the-shelf

    standard/catalogue item, not custom-made, often used for products rather than food

Antonyms
  • homemade

    made at home by the person using it

  • handmade

    made by hand, often by a craftsperson

  • natural

    occurring in nature, not manufactured

Grammar Patterns

store-bought + noun

Usage Note

Attributive only — used before a noun. In British English the equivalent term is 'shop-bought'.

Common Mistakes

I bought a store-bought cake' (redundant — 'bought' repeats the idea).
I bought a cake from the store' or 'It was a store-bought cake.
'store-bought' already implies purchasing.

store — noun

store — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to places where goods are sold, but they differ in scope and register. 'Store' is the dominant term in American English for any retail establishment, from a small corner shop to a large department store. 'Shop' is the equivalent British English term and in American English often suggests a smaller, more specialised business (a coffee shop, a gift shop). 'Retailer' is more formal and focuses on the business entity rather than the physical building — you might say 'a major online retailer' but not 'let's go to the retailer'. 'Outlet' usually means a store that sells goods from a specific brand or manufacturer, often at discounted prices (a Nike outlet). In learner English, 'store' and 'shop' are the everyday words; choose 'store' in US contexts and 'shop' in UK contexts for natural-sounding speech.

store ↗shop ↗retailer ↗outlet ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • food (store food)
  • data (store data)
  • energy (store energy)
  • information (store information)
  • goods (store goods)
  • documents (store documents)

Adverbs

  • carefully (store carefully)
  • safely (store safely)
  • properly (store properly)
  • away (store away)
  • securely (store securely)

Phrases

  • store something away for later use
  • store something in a safe place
  • store something for future reference
  • store something at room temperature
  • store something in a cool, dry place

Prepositions

  • in (store something in a box/room/garage)
  • on (store something on a shelf/disk/device)
  • at (store something at home/at the warehouse)
  • under (store something under the bed/ground)
  • inside (store something inside a container/cabinet)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

The word 'store' entered English from Old French 'estore' (meaning 'provisions' or 'supplies'), which came from the Latin verb 'instaurare' (to renew, restore, or build). The original meaning in English was 'supplies for an army or household', recorded in the 13th century. By the 14th century it had come to mean a 'place where goods are kept', and later a 'place where goods are sold'. The verb meaning 'to accumulate for future use' developed in the 14th century from the noun. The adjective use 'store-bought' (as opposed to 'homemade') appeared in American English in the early 20th century.