gouge

American  

[gauj] / gaʊdʒ /

noun

• gouges
  plural

1. a chisel having a partly cylindrical blade with the bevel on either the concave or the convex side.

2. an act of gouging.

3. a groove or hole made by gouging.

4. 1. an act or instance of extorting or overcharging; a swindle.

   2. the amount of money extorted or overcharged.

      a gouge of $20 for shipping and delivery.

5. Geology.

   1. a layer of decomposed rocks or minerals found along the walls of a vein.

   2. fragments of rock that have accumulated between or along the walls of a fault.

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verb (used with object)

• gouges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gouged,
  past participle,  past
• gouging
  present participle

1. to scoop out or turn with or as if with a gouge.

   to gouge a channel; to gouge holes.

2. to dig or force out with or as if with a gouge.

   to gouge out an eye.

3. to make a gouge in.

   to gouge one's leg.

4. to extort from, overcharge, or swindle.

   drug companies that gouge consumers and the government.

verb (used without object)

• gouges,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gouged,
  past participle,  past
• gouging
  present participle

1. to engage in extortion, overcharging, or swindling.

   I bought a lot of my clothes there before they began gouging.

gouge British  

/ ɡaʊdʒ /

verb

1. (usually foll by out) to scoop or force (something) out of its position, esp with the fingers or a pointed instrument

2. (sometimes foll by out) to cut (a hole or groove) in (something) with a sharp instrument or tool

3. informal to extort from

4. (also intr) to dig for (opal)

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noun

1. a type of chisel with a blade that has a concavo-convex section

2. a mark or groove made with, or as if with, a gouge

3. geology a fine deposit of rock fragments, esp clay, occurring between the walls of a fault or mineral vein

4. informal extortion; swindling

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gouger
  noun
• ungouged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gouges
  plural

Participles

• gouging
  present
• gouged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• gouge
  simple
• gouges
  simple
• have gouged
  perfect
• has gouged
  perfect
• am gouging
  progressive
• are gouging
  progressive
• is gouging
  progressive
• have been gouging
  perfect progressive
• has been gouging
  perfect progressive

Past

• gouged
  simple
• had gouged
  perfect
• was gouging
  progressive
• were gouging
  progressive
• had been gouging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will gouge
  simple
• will have gouged
  perfect
• will be gouging
  progressive
• will have been gouging
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of gouge

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from French, from Late Latin gu(l)bia; compare Old Provençal goja, Spanish gubia; perhaps from Celtic; compare Old Irish gulba “sting,” Welsh gylf “beak,” Cornish gilb “borer”

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Explanation

To gouge can mean to make a hole or dent in something, or to swindle or steal by overcharging. If your local gas station raises prices because a storm is coming, you may say that the station owner is gouging you — and that's illegal. The verb gouge means to cut or carve. You can use special chisels to gouge linoleum for interesting design in printing. As a noun, a gouge is the tool you would use — instead of a flat-head chisel, a gouge has a trough — to make the gouge marks of the design. Another meaning of the verb gouge is an indentation in the surface of something. If you're not careful with the screwdriver, you'll accidentally gouge a hole in the wall.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gouge gouges gouged gouging

The government says authorities have carried out raids and taken action against hoarders and black marketeers who are exploiting shortages to price gouge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

That doesn’t mean that the grocers can’t gouge shoppers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024

Formulaic demands of the PGA Tour, where bomb and gouge to receptive greens is such a profitable pursuit, were not the qualities required last week.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2024

Underwater footage appeared to show the plane partially afloat, with at least one wheel creating a gouge in the fragile coral.

From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

The motion asserted that “there was no debris found, there were no skid marks, scuff marks, or gouge marks, and no evidence which could support the preparation of a diagram.”

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

Small gouges from the brick and broken glass are still visible on the windowsill.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023

As Earth’s climate has warmed, glaciers have rapidly melted in high mountain ranges across the globe, and the resulting water accumulates in unstable gouges cut by the glaciers as they retreat.

From Science Magazine ● Feb. 8, 2023

But it also said: “Inside the Lincoln Chamber there are several scratches and gouges on the flooring. Photo documentation taken and referred to the park’s senior management.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2022

And what, exactly, had left such deep gouges in the hind leg of a trapped bobcat?

From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2022

There were deep gouges in the glass on the other side of the window.

From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman

She touted the low transport costs for spectators, the free fan festival and "that you're not going to be price gouged when it comes to hotels" as making Philadelphia the best value US venue.

From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026

“And I think at this stage, fans couldn’t feel less welcome. I don’t think anyone this time was expecting transport to be free. But we weren’t expecting to be gouged, either.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Replacing the gouged front bumper was a $1,100 job and Mandell would’ve paid the first $500.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025

Someone had gouged out the two S’s in a Cesar Chavez quote about “drawing the goodne...” out of students.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025

I had gouged out small pieces of rocks, places to fit my feet.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

He has vowed to sue Airbnb if it engages in price gouging, and he knows the Los Angeles Police Department is a major factor in the city’s rising litigation costs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

The prime minister's office asked the public to avoid panic-buying and warned that price gouging was a criminal offence.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

This would include waiving of taxes on animal feed inputs, as well as "active retail price monitoring to deter opportunity price gouging and rationing".

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The two companies decided to change the way the figurines were auctioned to avoid the gouging narrative.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

When he heard the story, Hiatt said, “Looks like price gouging to me.”

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

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