wade

[ weyd ]
See synonyms for wade on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),wad·ed, wad·ing.
  1. to walk in water, when partially immersed: He wasn't swimming, he was wading.

  2. to play in water: The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.

  1. to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement: to wade through the mud.

  2. to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed by through): to wade through a dull book.

  3. Obsolete. to go or proceed.

verb (used with object),wad·ed, wad·ing.
  1. to pass through or cross by wading; ford: to wade a stream.

noun
  1. an act or instance of wading: We went for a wade in the shallows.

Verb Phrases
  1. wade in / into

    • to begin energetically.

    • to attack strongly: to wade into a thoughtless child; to wade into a mob of rioters.

Origin of wade

1
before 900; Middle English waden to go, wade, Old English wadan to go; cognate with German waten,Old Norse vatha; akin to Old English wæd ford, sea, Latin vadum shoal, ford, vādere to go, rush

Other words for wade

Other words from wade

  • un·wad·ed, adjective
  • un·wad·ing, adjective

Words Nearby wade

Other definitions for Wade (2 of 2)

Wade
[ weyd ]

noun
  1. Benjamin Franklin, 1800–78, U.S. lawyer and antislavery politician.

  2. a male given name.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wade in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wade (1 of 2)

wade

/ (weɪd) /


verb
  1. to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc): the girls waded the river at the ford

  2. (intr often foll by through) to proceed with difficulty: to wade through a book

  1. (intr; foll by in or into) to attack energetically

noun
  1. the act or an instance of wading

Origin of wade

1
Old English wadan; related to Old Frisian wada, Old High German watan, Old Norse vatha, Latin vadum ford

Derived forms of wade

  • wadable or wadeable, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for Wade (2 of 2)

Wade

/ (weɪd) /


noun
  1. (Sarah) Virginia. born 1945, English tennis player; won three Grand Slam singles titles: US Open (1968), Australian Open (1972), and Wimbledon (1977)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012