Jump To:

• ditch
  ditch

  noun

  a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.
• Ditch
  Ditch

  noun

  an informal name for the Tasman Sea

ditch

American  

[dich] / dɪtʃ /

noun

• ditches
  plural

1. a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.

2. any open passage or trench, as a natural channel or waterway.

---

verb (used with object)

• ditches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ditched,
  past participle,  past
• ditching
  present participle

1. to dig a ditch or ditches in or around.

2. to derail (a train) or drive or force (an automobile, bus, etc.) into a ditch.

3. to crash-land on water and abandon (an airplane).

4. Slang.

   1. to get rid of.

      I ditched that old hat of yours.

   2. to escape from.

      He ditched the cops by driving down an alley.

   3. to absent oneself from (school or a class) without permission or an acceptable reason.

verb (used without object)

• ditches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ditched,
  past participle,  past
• ditching
  present participle

1. to dig a ditch.

2. (of an aircraft or its crew) to crash-land in water and abandon the sinking aircraft.

3. Slang. to be truant; play hooky.

ditch ¹ British  

/ dɪtʃ /

noun

1. a narrow channel dug in the earth, usually used for drainage, irrigation, or as a boundary marker

2. any small, natural waterway

3. a bank made of earth excavated from and placed alongside a drain or stream

4. informal either of the gutters at the side of a tenpin bowling lane

5. a last resort or place of last defence

---

verb

1. to make a ditch or ditches in (a piece of ground)

2. (intr) to edge with a ditch

3. informal to crash or be crashed, esp deliberately, as to avoid more unpleasant circumstances

   he had to ditch the car

4. slang (tr) to abandon or discard

   to ditch a girlfriend

5. informal to land (an aircraft) on water in an emergency

6. slang (tr) to evade

   to ditch the police

Ditch ² British  

/ dɪtʃ /

noun

1. an informal name for the Tasman Sea

---

ditch Idioms  

1. see last-ditch effort.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ditcher
  noun
• ditchless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ditches
  plural

Participles

• ditching
  present
• ditched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ditch
  simple
• ditches
  simple
• have ditched
  perfect
• has ditched
  perfect
• am ditching
  progressive
• are ditching
  progressive
• is ditching
  progressive
• have been ditching
  perfect progressive
• has been ditching
  perfect progressive

Past

• ditched
  simple
• had ditched
  perfect
• was ditching
  progressive
• were ditching
  progressive
• had been ditching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ditch
  simple
• will have ditched
  perfect
• will be ditching
  progressive
• will have been ditching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ditch

before 900; 1940–45 ditch for def. 5, 1885–90 ditch for def. 6, 1955–60 ditch for def. 9; Middle English dich, Old English dīc; cognate with German Teich. See dike ¹

Explanation

A ditch is a long trench or pit dug into the ground. If your lawns are always soggy, build a drainage ditch for the excess water to flow into. A ditch can be a man-made trench, usually long and narrow, dug into the earth, or a natural ditch made by flowing water. Originally used for farming, we now use ditch for any pit in the ground. Ditch can also be a verb meaning to toss something or forsake it. You can ditch a plan that's going wrong, or a boyfriend who is misbehaving. If you make an emergency crash landing, you ditch your plane.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ditch Ditch ditches ditched ditching

The hosts walked out in their black and white home kit, which has a blue trim, but decided to ditch it during the first hydration break at St James' Park on Saturday.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Like a similar system in India called UPI, PIX has encouraged users to ditch cash and open bank accounts after years of avoiding slow and costly bank transfers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

In light of the legal tussle with California, some have encouraged David Ellison to ditch Paramount’s Hollywood headquarters in favor of Tennessee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Navarro escaped by throwing himself into a ditch and crawling away, but hasn't seen his wife, who remains missing.

From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026

Rats struggled from the ditch and the cart—frantic to obey the harsh command as quickly as possible.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

There’s also the nuclear option: Ditch the cloud and back up your data to a local drive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026

Appeared in the October 6, 2025, print edition as 'Grown-Ups Ditch Happy Hour for Sack Races and Duck-Duck-Goose'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025

Hunter Ditch, a producer and voice actor in Lake Balboa, raised similar concerns about the lack of accurate information.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025

The allegations were made on The Ditch website.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2024

Halfway across campus, I was over The Ditch and, out of habit, I stopped on the bridge and began looking for lovers.

From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg

There are more than 100 ways to restore peatland, including blocking drains and ditches and re-establishing bog vegetation.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

On and around the dry lake bed, water gushes from wells into ditches to fields of tomatoes, cotton, almonds, grapes and other crops.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

Bedrock Robotics Chief Executive Boris Sofman visited the site last year, looking for land to test the company’s autonomous construction machinery, including excavators to dig ditches without human control.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

She ditches the elevator, climbing 11 flights before descending to her ninth-floor office.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

The streams and ditches bubbled and chattered with rushing water.

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

Tech mavens, including Musk, have ditched California for the Lone Star State.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

So she's ditched the teenage angst of her debut, but also the poise of its follow-up.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

The Dow industrials surged, while chip stocks were selling off as investors ditched artificial-intelligence darlings in favor of other sectors that had been left behind this year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Chips and networking company Marvell Technology declined 5% and chip manufacturer Intel slid 3.8% as investors ditched artificial intelligence winners.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

I thought you ditched Rachel because of me.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Investors have been ditching AI-linked stocks due to worries about surging memory-chip prices.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

Arte Moreno is unlikely to sell the Angels amid steady fan protests, but he can respond by ditching veterans and giving young talent a chance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

With fewer sales to go around and homes taking longer to sell, more agents are ditching the industry or finding second jobs as the slowest housing market in decades stretches into its fourth year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Investors were ditching U.S. government bonds amid intensifying concerns that the resurgence of inflation brought on by the Iran war could force the Federal Reserve to pursue higher interest rates.

From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026

Hours and hours and hours, ditching chores and trips to the mall.

From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss

Related Words

• abandon
• discard
• dispose of
• dump
• forsake
• jettison
• junk
• scrap