hoard
Americannoun
-
hoards
plural
verb (used with object)
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hoards,
present (3rd person singular)
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hoarded,
past participle, past
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hoarding
present participle
verb (used without object)
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hoards,
present (3rd person singular)
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hoarded,
past participle, past
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hoarding
present participle
noun
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an accumulated store hidden away for future use
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a cache of ancient coins, treasure, etc
verb
Usage
What’s the difference between hoard and horde? Hoard is a verb meaning to accumulate things and closely guard them, often in a greedy or excessive way, as in Dragons are known for hoarding treasure. It can also be used as a noun to collectively refer to the things that have been accumulated, as in a hoard of treasure. Horde is a noun referring to a large group or mob of people, especially one considered in a negative way, as in I’d rather avoid the hordes of tourists. The word horde is also used in a more specific way to refer to a group of nomads. It is especially associated with the Mongol army of the 1200s (sometimes known as the Golden Horde). Horde can also be a verb, meaning to gather or move in a horde, but this use is much less common. Both words often relate to large groups, but a hoard is an accumulation of items, while a horde is a group of people (or animals). To remember which spelling to use, remember that nomadic hordes sometimes travel on horses. The word hoard, on the other hand, hoards the letter A all for itself. Here’s an example of hoard and horde used correctly in a sentence. Example: A horde of invaders sacked the city and looted the royal treasure hoard. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between hoard and horde.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hoardsimple
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hoardssimple
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have hoardedperfect
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has hoardedperfect
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am hoardingprogressive
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are hoardingprogressive
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is hoardingprogressive
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have been hoardingperfect progressive
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has been hoardingperfect progressive
Past
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hoardedsimple
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had hoardedperfect
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was hoardingprogressive
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were hoardingprogressive
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had been hoardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hoard
First recorded before 900; Middle English hord(e), Old English hord; cognate with Old Norse hodd, Old High German hort, Gothic huzd “treasure”; hide 1, hide 2
Explanation
To hoard is to save something (or lots of things) for future use. Squirrels hoard nuts for the winter. Old ladies tend to hoard canned food and used plastic bags. People have been using the word hoard for both "to hide" and "treasure" for centuries; as both a verb and as a noun. Some hoard valuables, such as money, jewelry, and family antiques. Others build up a hoard, or cache, of things that aren't worth money but are important to them — like comic books or match books.
Vocabulary lists containing hoard
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
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Beowulf
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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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:
And the company has put some of its massive cash hoard to work, for the first time since Abel took the reins.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
This biological hoard once dismissed as “junk DNA” or the “dark genome” has turned out to be full of hormones and microproteins that play important roles in directing the body’s systems and processes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Consistently low rates would rebalance the economy in favor of debtors, he thought, and reduce incentives for people to hoard money and instead encourage them to spend and invest, thereby stimulating employment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Almost always lining up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, Maresca wants his teams to hoard possession, stop counter-attacks and be dominant.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
More than anything in this magical hoard, it was the apple tree that sounded like a stiltskin.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Strategy, the software company that amassed one of the largest publicly disclosed bitcoin hoards, is down by more than 80% from its 52-week highs,
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
It also started buying up hoards of mortgage-backed securities to drive down borrowing costs for American households.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 17, 2026
But not even Greenland’s valuable geographical position and hoards of critical minerals could compensate for damaging the trans-Atlantic alliance that remains fundamental to U.S. security.
From Barron's ● Jan. 8, 2026
Antony Lee from the Treasure Trove Unit said coin hoards containing a mix of both English and Scottish coins were not unusual.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2025
They looked just like rabbit holes, but supposedly gnome holes all led to a large underground cavern where they kept hoards of food.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
She dotes on her husband, who suffers from dementia and comes to terms with all the paraphernalia and recordings from her career that she hoarded for decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Undertaker Robert Bush hoarded dozens of bodies and half a tonne of human ashes.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
Over years of high inflation and currency controls, Argentines traded their battered pesos for dollars, which they often hoarded at home, in cash.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
As with gold, silver has long been hoarded by investors worried about inflation, government debt, and the overall safety of the modern financial system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
Her father marveled at the industrial carpeting in the hallway of her apartment building; her mother hoarded faux-leather handbags at Kmart, paper napkins from the mall food court, even plastic shopping bags.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Yes, as these companies’ statements uniformly note, those chips are being taken up by the A.I. data center rush, with Google and OpenAI leading the way in hoarding these processors.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
A public tired of hoarding toilet paper in isolation lived it up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Within industries, as a supply-chain crisis unfolds, fear and self-protection instincts kick in, with hoarding and company-level stockpiling resulting in confusing demand signals that make it hard for upstream producers to respond.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
The exchange is now looking to send a stronger message by revising its corporate governance message to get companies to stop hoarding cash.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
He said, “What’re you, a squirrel, hoarding friendship?”
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
