ford
noun
a place where a river or other body of water is shallow enough to be crossed by wading.
ford
1 American
[fawrd, fohrd]
/ fɔrd, foʊrd /
noun
-
fords
plural
verb (used with object)
-
fords,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forded,
past participle, past
-
fording
present participle
Ford
2
American
[fawrd, fohrd]
/ fɔrd, foʊrd /
noun
-
Elizabeth Bloomer Betty, 1918–2011, U.S. First Lady 1974–77 (wife of Gerald R. Ford).
-
Ford Madox Ford Madox Hueffer, 1873–1939, English novelist, poet, critic, and editor.
-
Gerald R(udolph, Jr.) Leslie Lynch King, Jr., 1913–2006, U.S. political leader: congressman 1948–73; vice president 1973–74; 38th president of the U.S. 1974–77.
-
Guy Stanton, 1873–1963, U.S. historian, educator, and editor.
-
Henry, 1863–1947, U.S. automobile manufacturer.
-
John, 1586?–c1640, English playwright.
-
John Sean O'Feeney, 1895–1973, U.S. film director.
-
a male given name.
Ford
1
British
/ fɔːd /
noun
-
Ford Maddox (ˈmædəks) original name Ford Madox Hueffer . 1873–1939, English novelist, editor, and critic; works include The Good Soldier (1915) and the war tetralogy Parade's End (1924–28).
-
Gerald R ( udolph ). 1913–2006, US politician; 38th president of the US (1974–77)
-
Harrison . born 1942, US film actor. His films include Star Wars (1977) and its sequels, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its sequels, Bladerunner (1982), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and What Lies Beneath (2000)
-
Henry . 1863–1947, US car manufacturer, who pioneered mass production
-
John . 1586–?1639, English dramatist; author of revenge tragedies such as 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1633)
-
John , real name Sean O'Feeney . 1895–1973, US film director, esp of Westerns such as Stagecoach (1939) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
ford
2
British
/ fɔːd /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fordsimple
-
fordssimple
-
have fordedperfect
-
has fordedperfect
-
am fordingprogressive
-
are fordingprogressive
-
is fordingprogressive
-
have been fordingperfect progressive
-
has been fordingperfect progressive
Past
-
fordedsimple
-
had fordedperfect
-
was fordingprogressive
-
were fordingprogressive
-
had been fordingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ford
before 900; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with Old Frisian forda, German Furt; akin to Old Norse fjǫrthr, fare, port 1
Explanation
When you’re out hiking in the wilderness, you may have to ford a river if there’s no bridge. Roll up your pant legs because you'll have to wade through the water at a shallow point. The verb ford describes crossing a body of water on foot at a shallow point or driving across it in a vehicle. The idea is that you’re not using a bridge or a boat to cross the water. Ford also has a noun form, meaning a shallow point in a river or stream. So if you ever have to ford a river, make sure you cross at the ford — the shallow point — or you could get very wet.
Vocabulary lists containing ford
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is thought the 43-year-old former wing's car was swept away while he tried to drive across a Northumbrian ford during Storm Darragh last month.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
A third man, in his 80s, died after driving into a ford in Colne, Lancashire.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2024
However, some believe the dangers of the ford have been overstated.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
A ford has existed in the same spot for hundreds of years - and cars, vans, lorries and tractors have been crossing it likely since the invention of the motor vehicle.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
I go through the town and by the drovers’ road and across the ford beyond.”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Evans said that she saw many Hollywood stars that evening, and was starstruck by Harrison Ford.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley later told The Wall Street Journal that the letter reflected “basic misunderstandings” about its operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The director of the Ford Foundation’s mission investments program explains why the assumption that you can’t make a positive impact and make a profit is all wrong.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026
McGuire was apprehended as he was trying to access a red Ford Mustang car parked outside the building.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Mom follows Sam back to their room, with the actual bed, where Ford slept through the whole thing.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
The reroute required building a small bridge and establishing new creek fords.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2022
“The planned route is at least 135 miles long, and depending on the?deviations, avoiding avalanche risks, finding safe river fords, and?wandering in the trees, it could be as much as 150 miles,” Williams said.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 22, 2016
You have to ford numerous rivers, and the Shoshones, Pawnees and Sioux, were extremely adept at helping the pioneers make these fords.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 12, 2015
Painted in garish colours, Wayne fords a river in a stagecoach pulled by a team of wild-eyed horses.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2013
‘When you crossed the fords yonder you entered it. But it is the realm of Théoden the King. None ride here save by his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
He has picked his way across roads and railways, forded local streams and swum across the River Danube.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
Akil continues down the road that Blume's 1975 novel forded, accurately capturing adolescence's hidden longing and confusion.
From Salon ● May 21, 2025
Klemperer and his colleagues, including collaborators in China, traversed dirt roads and forded streams to collect samples from some 200 natural springs across nearly 1000 kilometers of southern Tibet.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 9, 2024
On Monday morning, hundreds of disillusioned refugees marched out of Idomeni — some of them shouting, “Going to Germany!” — and forded a river to enter Macedonia.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2016
Streams we could have forded easily enough—Marlene seemed quite happy to go back and forth carrying two of us at a time.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Some had their belongings stolen or damaged while fording rivers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
Scotty Jalbert, emergency services manager for San Luis Obispo County, said river crossings can be deceiving and people can run into trouble after successfully fording them several times.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
He described fording knee-deep mud in the jungles of the Darién Gap linking Colombia and Panama.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 25, 2022
Jeep says the Grand Cherokee 4xe is capable of water fording up to 24 inches.
From The Verge ● Sep. 29, 2021
A great white cow was fording through the river of traffic, vehicles parting to let it through.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
