row

¹ American  

[roh] / roʊ /

noun

1. a number of persons or things arranged in a line, especially a straight line.

   a row of apple trees.

2. a line of persons or things so arranged.

   The petitioners waited in a row.

3. a line of adjacent seats facing the same way, as in a theater.

   seats in the third row of the balcony.

4. a street formed by two continuous lines of buildings.

5. Music. tone row.

6. Checkers. one of the horizontal lines of squares on a checkerboard; rank.

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verb (used with object)

1. to put in a row (often followed byup ).

idioms

1. hard / long row to hoe, a difficult task or set of circumstances to confront.

   At 32 and with two children, she found attending medical school a hard row to hoe.

row ² American  

[roh] / roʊ /

verb (used without object)

1. to propel a vessel by the leverage of an oar or the like.

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verb (used with object)

1. to propel (a vessel) by the leverage of an oar or the like.

2. to convey in a boat that is rowed.

3. to convey or propel (something) in a manner suggestive of rowing.

4. to require, use, or be equipped with (a number of oars).

   The captain's barge rowed twenty oars.

5. to use (oarsmen) for rowing.

6. to perform or participate in by rowing.

   to row a race.

7. to row against in a race.

   Oxford rows Cambridge.

noun

1. an act, instance, or period of rowing.

   It was a long row to the far bank.

2. an excursion in a rowboat.

   to go for a row.

row ³ American  

[rou] / raʊ /

noun

1. a noisy dispute or quarrel; commotion.

   Synonyms:

   set-to, scrape, scrap, tiff, spat

2. noise or clamor.

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verb (used without object)

1. to quarrel noisily.

verb (used with object)

1. Chiefly British. to upbraid severely; scold.

row ¹ British  

/ rəʊ /

noun

1. an arrangement of persons or things in a line

   a row of chairs

2. 1. a street, esp a narrow one lined with identical houses

   2. ( capital when part of a street name )

      Church Row

3. a line of seats, as in a cinema, theatre, etc

4. maths a horizontal linear arrangement of numbers, quantities, or terms, esp in a determinant or matrix

5. a horizontal rank of squares on a chessboard or draughtboard

6. in succession; one after the other

   he won two gold medals in a row

7. a difficult task or assignment

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row ² British  

/ rəʊ /

verb

1. to propel (a boat) by using oars

2. (tr) to carry (people, goods, etc) in a rowing boat

3. to be propelled by means of (oars or oarsmen)

4. (intr) to take part in the racing of rowing boats as a sport, esp in eights, in which each member of the crew pulls one oar Compare scull

5. (tr) to race against in a boat propelled by oars

   Oxford row Cambridge every year

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noun

1. an act, instance, period, or distance of rowing

2. an excursion in a rowing boat

row ³ British  

/ raʊ /

noun

1. a noisy quarrel or dispute

2. a noisy disturbance; commotion

   we couldn't hear the music for the row next door

3. a reprimand

4. informal to scold someone; tell someone off

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verb

1. to quarrel noisily

2. archaic (tr) to reprimand

row More Idioms  

1. see get one's ducks in a row; kick up a fuss (row); skid row; tough row to hoe.

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Other Word Forms

• rowable
  adjective
• rower
  noun
• rowing
  noun
• underrower
  noun

Etymology

Origin of row¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English reue, reuwe, rou(e) “row, line, rank (line of soldiers),” Old English rǣw, rāw; akin to Middle Dutch rije, Middle High German rīhe, German Reihe “row”

Origin of row²

First recorded before 950; Middle English rouen, rouwen, Old English rōwan “to go by water, sail, row”; cognate with Old Norse rōa; akin to Latin rēmus, Greek eretmón, both meaning “oar”; see also rudder

Origin of row³

First recorded in 1740–50; origin uncertain

Explanation

A row is a straight line of something, like a row of penguins at the zoo, tulips planted in a row in a garden, or a row of tuba players marching in the Fourth of July parade in your town. A row is anything that's lined up, from the row of stitches on your knitting needle to the row of numbers on your spreadsheet. Row is also a verb meaning "to paddle." Row also means a noisy argument, but when you use it this way, it rhymes with cow, rather than toe. The origin of this last meaning is uncertain, but it probably came from the word carousal, or "drinking bout," as a kind of British university slang.

Example Sentences

Officers cordoned off the Henman & Cooper building on Colmore Row.

From BBC • May 3, 2026

Hitchcock's nearly five decades on Death Row make him among the inmates who have spent the most time in prison awaiting execution in the United States.

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

Years later on filings tied to the mansion plots on Billionaires’ Row, he listed his nationality as Cypriot.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

So acute was the situation that Albuquerque had a neighborhood, the International District, a rival to Los Angeles’ Skid Row or San Francisco’s Tenderloin, that was locally called the War Zone.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Rotten Row means ‘Route de Roi’, or the king’s way, but now it’s more like a riding school than anything else.

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Related Words

• controversy
• dispute
• quarrel
• squabble
• trouble