tow truck

American

noun

wrecker.

tow truck British

noun

Also called: breakdown van. wrecker. a motor vehicle equipped for towing away wrecked or disabled cars

"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

Etymology

Origin of tow truck

First recorded in 1940–45

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.

The roadside-assistance company Ortego works for pays for gas on the tow truck he was driving Thursday, which now takes $110 to fill up instead of the $70 it cost last month.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Curbside, for instance, has begun training gig workers in how to do quick vehicle fixes that don’t require a tow truck or advanced equipment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

The axles use open differentials and brake-based torque vectoring to articulate power left or right—an ability that could make the difference between getting to the ski resort or glumly waiting for a tow truck.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

San Bernardino resident April Zavala said her car was stolen around midnight one night in March by a white tow truck.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2026

At the edge of the dump, we found a tow truck so old it might’ve been thrown away itself.

From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023