ditch

[ dich ]

/ dɪtʃ /

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See synonyms for: ditch / ditched / ditching on Thesaurus.com

noun

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)

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)

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.

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Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of ditch

before 900; 1940–45 for def. 5, 1885–90 for def. 6, 1955–60 for def. 9; Middle English dich,Old English dīc; cognate with German Teich.See dike¹

OTHER WORDS FROM ditch

ditchless, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ditch in a sentence

So does this research mean meat-refusing males should start ditching their diets?
Beer Makes You More Virile, but Veggies Don’t? Busting the Biggest Myths About Sperm Count|Charlotte Lytton|October 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Off camera, Rooney was growing up fast, ditching school and developing an impressive vocabulary of curse words.
Mickey Rooney Was Hollywood’s Golden Age Showman|Lorenza Muñoz|April 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The master nerds who rule the Valley are talking about ditching the rest of us and heading for the hills.
The Race Is On in Silicon Valley to Escape Real America|James Poulos|November 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But the actor felt like an outsider, and by 13, was ditching school to smoke pot and drink.
‘Glee’ Star Cory Monteith Found Dead: A Tortured Talent Gone Too Soon|Marlow Stern|July 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Ditching the bleach, he seeped manly confidence with what appears to be a samurai ponytail.
Roger Federer’s Hair Evolution|Sujay Kumar|June 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
What does a poor man do, who goes out hedging and ditching with a dead child lying in his house?
The Prime Minister|Anthony Trollope
A man who has been a Fleet parson is like one who has passed a morning in hedging and ditching.
The Chaplain of the Fleet|Walter Besant and James Rice
But even 10 acres is a big field, quite big enough to repay the cost of hedging and ditching.
The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century|Richard Henry Tawney
A wagon passed, and then a tax-cart, and afterward two old men going ditching.
A Rose of a Hundred Leaves|Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
Accordingly he went to plowing, ditching, and blowing rocks and built a new stone bridge over a stream.
Revolutionary Heroes, And Other Historical Papers|James Parton

British Dictionary definitions for ditch (1 of 2)

ditch

/ (dɪtʃ) /

noun

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

any small, natural waterway

Irish 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

last ditch 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 circumstanceshe had to ditch the car

(tr) slang to abandon or discardto ditch a girlfriend

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

(tr) US slang to evadeto ditch the police

Derived forms of ditch

ditcher, nounditchless, adjective

Word Origin for ditch

Old English dīc; related to Old Saxon dīk, Old Norse dīki, Middle High German tīch dyke, pond, Latin fīgere to stick, see dyke 1

British Dictionary definitions for ditch (2 of 2)

Ditch

/ (dɪtʃ) /

noun NZ

the Ditch an informal name for the Tasman Sea

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with ditch

ditch

see last-ditch effort.

ditch

Origin of ditch

OTHER WORDS FROM ditch

Words related to ditch

How to use ditch in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ditch (1 of 2)

Derived forms of ditch

Word Origin for ditch

British Dictionary definitions for ditch (2 of 2)

Other Idioms and Phrases with ditch