Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <difference><verbs><comparison>
Title: What's the difference between "found" and "establish"?
Question: Google was  established  in 1998.  Google was  founded  in 1998.    In Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary, both  establish (2a)  and  found (1)  share the definition below:   to begin or create (something that is meant to last for a long time).   They are especially confusing in the case of creating a company or organization, as in the example above indicate.  How do you differentiate them?

Answers:
sents: text: They are essentially identical in the example you've given.
text: However, "founded" has a bit weightier connotation.
text: It's not just that something was started at the time given, it's that the thing is a well-known institution.
text: It also needs to be an institution to be founded , while you can establish almost anything.
text: You could say Google was founded or established
text: You might say a law was established, but you would not say it was founded
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/56162/fool4jesus
score: 14
sents: text: In literal terms: We found or establish companies or institutions.
text: We establish temporary guidelines, rules, protocols, and laws.
text: However, figuratively we can say: The law is founded on the principle of equal pay for equal work.
text: This policy relating to billable hours is founded on our firm conviction that work is far more important than family and free-time.
text: We expect our associates to work at least six days a week, and on Sundays whenever the situation requires.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/10264/Tᴚoɯɐuo
score: 8
sents: text: First of all, the word "found" has multiple definitions/meanings, including the definition of being the past tense of the word "find".
text: I will ignore that as your question demonstrated your desired focus.
text: To "found" something like an organization or a city basically means to begin it.
text: If I start a city, giving it a name and getting it to be legally recognized by a larger government, then I founded the city.
text: However, the term "establish" could also refer to the point when something became viable, longlasting, or true.
text: For example, there was once a city that was created on the last day of the year 1912.
text: In the 1920s, economic hard times led to closing businesses including lumber mills.
text: In the 1980s, the city had a strategy of providing nice land for cheap, hoping to attract some businesses to move to the city.
text: The strategy worked; in 1982, they attracted a Japanese company enough to place their American headquarters in the city.
text: In 1986, they also attracted a company whose product was a newfangled thing called computer software.
text: Although the city was formally founded in 1912, which was the day that this place became established as a city , it was really the investments in the 1980s by Nintendo and Microsoft that led to Redmond, WA becoming established as a technical hot spot with significant worldwide influence.
text: Maybe the city of Bellingham
text: , WA had rosier prospects to have significant economic impact in 1911 (as Bellingham had already been founded in 1904), now now Redmond's role as an economic powerhouse has been firmly established .
text: Basically, "founded" refers to the start of something rather official, while "established" refers to the beginning of something that has remained, and something can be established over a longer period of time.
text: Here's another example, showing events that happened over periods of years:
text: e.g., the United States of America's found ing fathers lived in the late 1700s, but it was during World War 2 that America established itself as a worldwide leader known as a superpower.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/17653/TOOGAM
score: 5
sents: text: One way I think we could look at it, perhaps, is correlate 'found' with another related word 'foundation'.
text: Visualise foundation, and its connotation, as being that firm solid base on which further structures are built.
text: Imagine erecting a building without a foundation - That doesn't sound too assuring, does it??
text: Of course, the foundation, no matter how solid & long-lasting, is kind of meaningless, unless something is built on it.
text: Hence, TOOGAM's example of Redmond seems quite accurate.
text: I also agree with the fact that one difference between found & establish is in terms of 'permanence'.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/57924/Ebad
score: 3
sents: text: As I have seen some real world examples, founder means who generated an idea of any institute or organisation but the organisation is established by somebody else.
text: For example my father founded an organisation but the establishment of firm is done by me.
text: There might be a difference in the year of founding and the year of establishment.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/57668/Rajat Jain
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
They are essentially identical in the example you've given. You could say Google was founded or established. In literal terms:  We found or establish companies or institutions. We establish temporary guidelines, rules, protocols, and laws. However, figuratively we can say:   The law is founded on the principle of equal pay for equal work. 
In the example they are essentially the same.
The "founded" connotation is however a little weightier.