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ed

1 American  
[ed] / ɛd /

noun

Informal.
  1. education.

    a course in driver's ed; adult ed.


Ed 2 American  
[ed] / ɛd /

noun

  1. a male given name, form of Edgar or Edward.


ED 3 American  
  1. Department of Education.

  2. Pathology. erectile dysfunction.


-ed 4 American  
  1. a suffix forming the past tense of weak verbs.

    he crossed the river.


-ed 5 American  
  1. a suffix forming the past participle of weak verbs (he had crossed the river ), and of participial adjectives indicating a condition or quality resulting from the action of the verb (inflated balloons ).


-ed 6 American  
  1. a suffix forming adjectives from nouns.

    bearded; monied; tender-hearted.


ed. 7 American  

abbreviation

  • eds
    plural,  plural
  1. edited.

  2. edition.

  3. editor.

  4. education.


E.D. 8 American  

abbreviation

  1. Eastern Department.

  2. election district.

  3. ex dividend.

  4. executive director.


ed. 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. edited

  2. edition

  3. editor

"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

-ed 2 British  

suffix

  1. forming the past tense of most English verbs

"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

-ed 3 British  

suffix

  1. forming the past participle of most English verbs

"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

-ed 4 British  

suffix

  1. possessing or having the characteristics of

    salaried; red-blooded

"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 ed1

By shortening

Origin of -ed4

Old English -de, -ede, -ode, -ade; origin disputed

Origin of -ed5

Old English -ed, -od, -ad; origin disputed

Origin of -ed6

Middle English; Old English -ede

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:

“They face some pretty formidable constraints,” said Barrett Taylor, who studies higher ed at the University of North Texas.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 30, 2026

For all of the vicious debates over sex ed in the ’90 and 2000s, those pushing abstinence and those promoting comprehensive health education could largely agree on one thing: We wanted teen pregnancies to decrease.

From Slate Jul. 28, 2026

In higher ed, Friedman says, the argument for restriction or outright removal of educational materials is still nominally about protection.

From Salon Jun. 20, 2026

Report ed new U.S. rules may require government permission for nearly all overseas sales of AI chips, impacting companies like Nvidia and AMD.

From Barron's Mar. 6, 2026

—Chief of the Warraskoyacks, quoted in William Symonds, ed.,

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Any citizen who steps out of line risks the ire of an even dumber police force, riding around in cruisers that lift their design language from Ed Hardy clothing.

From Salon Sep. 6, 2026

In the Massachusetts Senate primary on Tuesday, 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey, who was first sent to Washington the year Jimmy Carter won the presidency, handily defeated a primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton.

From Slate Sep. 5, 2026

Britain’s new foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, has taken the U.K.’s governor seat at the World Bank.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 1, 2026

First broadcast in 1978, it featured the best of winter sports action, with Ed Leigh and Chemmy Alcott its most recent presenting team.

From BBC Sep. 1, 2026

“I don’t want no real bed. I’ve got a real bed,” Grandpa Ed says.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

EGS looks after patients who require general surgical assessment, diagnosis, or treatment in an unplanned way, often following presentation in the ED.

From BBC Aug. 15, 2026

“The more anxiety there is in the college admissions process, the more desire there is to alleviate the pain early—and that’s what these ED systems do,” Beaton said.

From The Wall Street Journal May 1, 2026

It outlines monthly ED attendance times, performance against the DoH emergency care waiting time target for EDs, and key patient journey milestones including time to triage and start of treatment.

From BBC Apr. 24, 2026

The ED said Singh had been detained by the Uttar Pradesh state excise department in connection with the seizure of liquor exceeding permissible limits.

From Barron's Jan. 8, 2026

He went to the ED and changed the rules.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

"It works as a visual token to remind us that, that word with -ed on the end, no matter how you're going to say it, puts that word into the past tense," Daryl said.

From BBC Jan. 28, 2025

In the same way that the suffix -ed indicates that you’re speaking about the past, shows “basic empathy” between texters, McWhorter argues.

From Slate May 2, 2013

Instead of having a literal meaning, it does something — conveying an attitude — just like the -ed ending conveys past tense rather than “meaning” anything. , of all things, is grammar.

From Time Apr. 25, 2013

They've kaizen-ed and -ed and -ed the jobs.

From BusinessWeek May 5, 2011

Maculate -ed: spotted or marked with figures of any shape, of a color different from the ground.

From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by John. B. Smith

“I went to Catholic school, so we didn’t really have sex ed. The only way you learned anything was in anatomy class,” Roers said.

From Seattle Times Feb. 16, 2023

In The Dialogues of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, 3rd ed., vol 3.

From Textbooks Jun. 15, 2022

He has managed to find innovative ways to teach phy. ed., a class that many might think couldn’t be easily adapted to technology.

From Washington Times Nov. 16, 2020

Maiden Noir: Designed in Seattle and made in Japan, Nin Truong’s monochromatic drawstring pants, sweatshirts and shorts are appropriate for the upper echelons of an urban phys. ed. class.

From New York Times Jul. 7, 2017

Quentin, his B’s in phys. ed. catching up with him, was the salutatorian, tied with Billy.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

“What I liked about Fox were the people,” E.D.

From Slate Sep. 27, 2024

For adults, regardless of age, vaccination reduced the risk of E.D. urgent care visits by almost half and reduced the risk of hospitalization by slightly more than a third.

From Science Daily Feb. 19, 2024

The best-known spokesperson for those who disagree is E.D.

From Washington Post Feb. 18, 2022

“If we know what types of diseases might be exacerbated on these days in kids, we can either prevent these diseases or when kids come into the E.D. clinicians are knowledgeable about what’s happening.”

From New York Times Jan. 19, 2022

The following Writers, among others, are preparing volumes for this Series:— Prof. E.D.

From Life of John Milton by Richard Garnett

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