a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.
any open passage or trench, as a natural channel or waterway.
to dig a ditch or ditches in or around.
to derail (a train) or drive or force (an automobile, bus, etc.) into a ditch.
to crash-land on water and abandon (an airplane).
Slang.
to get rid of.
I ditched that old hat of yours.
to escape from.
He ditched the cops by driving down an alley.
to absent oneself from (school or a class) without permission or an acceptable reason.
to dig a ditch.
(of an aircraft or its crew) to crash-land in water and abandon the sinking aircraft.
Slang. to be truant; play hooky.
a narrow channel dug in the earth, usually used for drainage, irrigation, or as a boundary marker
any small, natural waterway
a bank made of earth excavated from and placed alongside a drain or stream
informal either of the gutters at the side of a tenpin bowling lane
a last resort or place of last defence
to make a ditch or ditches in (a piece of ground)
(intr) to edge with a ditch
informal to crash or be crashed, esp deliberately, as to avoid more unpleasant circumstances
he had to ditch the car
slang (tr) to abandon or discard
to ditch a girlfriend
informal to land (an aircraft) on water in an emergency
slang (tr) to evade
to ditch the police
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
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ditch the crowds: Look out for other American milestone celebrations this summer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 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
David Ditch, a senior analyst at the Economic Policy Innovation Center, a conservative think tank, says Doge's work is needed.
From BBC • Feb. 13, 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
Sugar Ditch is as low as you can go in Mississippi, maybe the whole United States.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
