ditch
noun
a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.
ditch
American
[dich]
/ dɪtʃ /
noun
-
ditches
plural
-
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.
verb (used with object)
-
ditches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ditched,
past participle, past
-
ditching
present participle
-
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.
-
verb (used without object)
-
ditches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ditched,
past participle, past
-
ditching
present participle
-
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.
ditch
1
British
/ dɪtʃ /
noun
-
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
verb
-
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
Ditch
2
British
/ dɪtʃ /
noun
ditch
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ditchsimple
-
ditchessimple
-
have ditchedperfect
-
has ditchedperfect
-
am ditchingprogressive
-
are ditchingprogressive
-
is ditchingprogressive
-
have been ditchingperfect progressive
-
has been ditchingperfect progressive
Past
-
ditchedsimple
-
had ditchedperfect
-
was ditchingprogressive
-
were ditchingprogressive
-
had been ditchingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing ditch
30 Great Words from Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
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"Ain't I a Woman?"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
Her best finds come when students at Essex University head home for the summer and ditch anything they don't want to take with them.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Building an embankment and ditch system required planning, coordination and the mobilization of labor.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
In 2010, the voters decided to ditch it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Hambrough, the victim, could not have been shot where he was found, the jury members were told, because the wound would have left more blood in the ditch there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
They passed under where the water touched the ceiling, and then Ivan pulled threads to close the ditch of air behind them, forming an oblong bubble around them instead.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Appeared in the October 28, 2026, print edition as 'Hispanics Ditch Trump for the Same Reason as Everyone Else'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Appeared in the August 17, 2026, print edition as 'Warsh Is Wise to Ditch the Dots'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Her advice: Ditch the earbuds and use the hike as an extension of the mindful movement you just completed by letting yourself take in and appreciate the natural surroundings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2025
The allegations were made on The Ditch website.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2024
Out on Ditch Road, a stoplight turned yellow, then red.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
As it happens, there were lots of terrible drivers on the road—and in the ditches beside them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
Launching in the UK and Ireland on 22nd June, the Playground ditches controllers for body movements, tracking players using AI and a built-in camera.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Launching in the UK and Ireland on 22 June, the Playground ditches controllers for body movements, tracking players using AI and a built-in camera.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
“There are some ditches in the area, so the person was out of view for a bit as well.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
Joe had gone every spring with his father to clean the irrigation ditches.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
In the bond market, investors ditched French government bonds, with the spread between yields on 10-year French OATs and the equivalent German bond widening to 164 basis points—the highest such level since 2011.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
We ditched our car in 2020, using bicycles and city buses for most of our getting-about, renting cars occasionally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
"Then I ditched it all and went into opera."
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
At about 20:50 GMT the aircraft ditched - a deliberate emergency landing on water, approximately 25 nautical miles south of Lyme Regis, Dorset.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
If he hadn’t ditched that party, maybe things would be easier now.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
Until this afternoon's council meeting, it had been expected that Labour would move to run matters in the city on its own, by ditching power-sharing with the Greens.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
However, it is well known in F1 that Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll earlier this year explored the possibility of ditching Honda before deciding to stick with them following their difficult start to the season.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Without completely ditching her ties to Los Angeles, as she has continued to maintain a residence there, Metz told People magazine in 2025 that she was drawn to Nashville for the opportunity to record music.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Opponents of ditching testing requirements argued that the exams are a key tool to uniformly predict academic success from students of divergent backgrounds, as well as schools that may issue grades differently.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
We ended up ditching the steak house and going to Patsy’s that night, and I picked at my slice.
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
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