train

American  

[trayn] / treɪn /

noun

• trains
  plural

1. Railroads. a self-propelled, connected group of rolling stock.

2. a line or procession of persons, vehicles, animals, etc., traveling together.

3. Military. an aggregation of vehicles, animals, and personnel accompanying an army to carry supplies, baggage, ammunition, etc.

   Synonyms:

   convoy

4. a series or row of objects or parts.

5. Machinery. a connected set of three or more rotating elements, usually gears, through which force is transmitted, or motion or torque changed.

6. order, especially proper order.

   Matters were in good train.

   Synonyms:

   arrangement, array

7. something that is drawn along; a trailing part.

8. an elongated part of a skirt or robe trailing behind on the ground.

9. a trail or stream of something from a moving object.

10. a line or succession of persons or things following one after the other.

    Synonyms:

    column, file

11. a body of followers or attendants; retinue.

12. a series of proceedings, events, ideas, etc.

13. the series of results or circumstances following or proceeding from an event, action, etc.; aftermath.

    Disease came in the train of war.

14. a succession of connected ideas; a course of reasoning.

    to lose one's train of thought.

15. Astronomy.

    1. the trace of light created by a meteor falling through the earth's atmosphere.

    2. the tail of a comet.

16. a line of combustible material, as gunpowder, for leading fire to an explosive charge.

17. Physics. a succession of wave fronts, oscillations, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

• trains,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trained,
  past participle,  past
• training
  present participle

1. to develop or form the habits, thoughts, or behavior of (a child or other person) by discipline and instruction.

   to train an unruly boy.

2. to make proficient by instruction and practice, as in some art, profession, or work.

   to train soldiers.

   Synonyms:

   school, practice, drill, exercise

3. to make (a person) fit by proper exercise, diet, practice, etc., as for an athletic performance.

4. to discipline and instruct (an animal), as in the performance of tasks or tricks.

5. to treat or manipulate so as to bring into some desired form, position, direction, etc..

   to train one's hair to stay down.

6. Horticulture. to bring (a plant, branch, etc.) into a particular shape or position, by bending, pruning, or the like.

7. to bring to bear on some object; point, aim, or direct, as a firearm, camera, telescope, or eye.

8. Archaic. to entice; allure.

verb (used without object)

• trains,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trained,
  past participle,  past
• training
  present participle

1. to give the discipline and instruction, drill, practice, etc., designed to impart proficiency or efficiency.

2. to undergo discipline and instruction, drill, etc.

3. to get oneself into condition for an athletic performance through exercise, diet, practice, etc.

4. to travel or go by train.

   to train to New York.

train British  

/ treɪn /

verb

1. (tr) to guide or teach (to do something), as by subjecting to various exercises or experiences

   to train a man to fight

2. (tr) to control or guide towards a specific goal

   to train a plant up a wall

3. (intr) to do exercises and prepare for a specific purpose

   the athlete trained for the Olympics

4. (tr) to improve or curb by subjecting to discipline

   to train the mind

5. (tr) to focus or bring to bear (on something)

   to train a telescope on the moon

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noun

1. 1. a line of coaches or wagons coupled together and drawn by a railway locomotive

   2. ( as modifier )

      a train ferry

2. a sequence or series, as of events, thoughts, etc

   a train of disasters

3. a procession of people, vehicles, etc, travelling together, such as one carrying supplies of ammunition or equipment in support of a military operation

4. a series of interacting parts through which motion is transmitted

   a train of gears

5. a fuse or line of gunpowder to an explosive charge, etc

6. something drawn along, such as the long back section of a dress that trails along the floor behind the wearer

7. a retinue or suite

8. proper order or course

train Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing train

• gravy train

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Synonym Usage

See teach.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minitrain
  noun
• mistrain
  verb
• overtrain
  verb
• supertrain
  verb
• pretrain
  verb (used with object)
• undertrain
  verb (used with object)
• half-trained
  adjective
• nontrained
  adjective
• self-trained
  adjective
• semitrained
  adjective
• trainable
  adjective
• trainless
  adjective
• undertrained
  adjective
• untrained
  adjective
• well-trained
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trains
  plural

Participles

• training
  present
• trained
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• train
  simple
• trains
  simple
• have trained
  perfect
• has trained
  perfect
• am training
  progressive
• are training
  progressive
• is training
  progressive
• have been training
  perfect progressive
• has been training
  perfect progressive

Past

• trained
  simple
• had trained
  perfect
• was training
  progressive
• were training
  progressive
• had been training
  perfect progressive

Future

• will train
  simple
• will have trained
  perfect
• will be training
  progressive
• will have been training
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of train

First 1350–1400; (verb) late Middle English traynyn “to pull or drag in the rear,” from Middle French trainer, Old French tra(h)iner, from unattested Vulgar Latin tragīnāre, derivative of unrecorded tragīna “something dragged or drawn” (compare Medieval Latin tragīna “carriage”), derivative of unattested tragere “to pull,” for Latin trahere; (noun) Middle English train, traine, from Old French tra(h)in (masculine) “series of people, animals, or things,” tra(h)ine (feminine) “something dragged behind,” both derivative of tra(h)iner

Explanation

To train means to teach a skill. If you train your cat to use the toilet, your family will be amazed. You can train animals to perform in a circus or roll over, and you can train people to do things like program computers or use an espresso machine. When you instruct someone how to do a task, you train him or her. Other meanings of the word train? A locomotive, like the train that takes people from New York City to Boston or a long piece of material attached to the back of a dress, like the train on a wedding dress.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

train trains trained training

Across the train tracks, past feed and hardware stores, Yvette Mannon summed up Nebraskans' resilience and fortitude.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

India's Supreme Court was set to hear a petition in a special sitting Sunday against the closure of Delhi metro stations and train services on Saturday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

He took an overnight train to witness the protests in the capital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

In September, high tides and powerful wave activity from Hurricane Marie buffeted the San Clemente coastline, temporarily halting Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink service after more erosion and slope damage was spotted near the train tracks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

She huddled in the corner of our train compartment, the hand that gripped Father’s whitening at the knuckles each time the train lurched or swayed.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

“In the meantime, protecting the existing line is essential to keeping trains running safely for the communities that rely on them.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

The downturn was driven largely by a 61.5% monthly drop in demand for transport equipment such as aircraft, ships, trains and military vehicles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

This meant on average each day, 205 trains were stopped.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

There was a more than 60-percent decrease in the category that includes military vehicles, aircraft, ships and trains.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

“It’s a lot easier to keep Teddy happy if he can watch the trains go by.”

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

When asked by the media what could have been done to prevent the injuries, Arteta joked the pair should not have trained.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Keepers at Sydney's Taronga Zoo trained two sea lions and two fur seals to listen to sounds and press a paddle when they heard a tone.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

They were trained in navigating conflict and relationships.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

These students say any effort by police to deter bullying or fights would be more effectively handled by counseling, fully staffed non-police adult supervision and staff trained in de-escalation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Volunteers are trained for about three months before they are sent overseas for twenty-four months of service in several sectors.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Most of the time, little information is available to the public about the people administering the lethal injection, as the states do not usually share what training they have had.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Last month it emerged that a rogue OpenAI model bypassed safeguards during training and hacked an Australian government health statistics website.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Standing on Walton’s main street near a fried chicken shop, Morgan Price, 22, is one of a million young Brits who aren’t in school, don’t have a job and aren’t training for one.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Discipline has been big for Guzman, whether that means players show up to weight training wearing all black or making sure they never walk when heading to the practice field.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Directly in front of us was what looked like a smaller version of Professor Watt’s gym, complete with a training mat.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• care for
• develop
• discipline
• educate
• equip
• improve
• instruct
• qualify
• study
• teach
• tutor
• work out