gouge

American  

[gouj] / 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

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”

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

Etzebeth later posted a video claiming his actions were a reaction to being struck by Mann and the gouge was not intentional.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024

Pressing her body down for leverage, she scraped the wood with a gouge, removing layers, her hands steady and firm.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024

“I talked to your father,” her mom continued, and Hazel’s eyes snapped to the long gouge she’d made in the table when she was seven and wanted to play Excalibur.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

While carvers in other areas long ago turned to mechanical cutters and polishers, the craftsmen here use only hammers, mallets and a variety of chisels and gouges.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2023

There are still gouges in the carriage house from the carriages that were kept there, according to a former owner, Amy Pressler.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 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

In some instances, it drizzles down the canvas in rivulets; in others it amasses in thick crusts into which Bradley gouges with a stick or a rake.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022

“Every time I get around you boys, it’s like being back in Korea,” Jake said, marveling at the gouges in the blockhouse.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

More than 1,400 people are missing and at least 552 have been killed after a devastating, tsunami-like wall of water gouged a path through the border region between Nepal and Tibet, sweeping away entire villages.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

LUMEZI, Zambia—Three-year-old Dickson Ngwira was deep into his afternoon nap when half a dozen elephants, using trunks as trowels, gouged a five-foot-wide hole in the brick wall near his bed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 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

Wagons had gouged chasms across paths, roads, and would-be lawns.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

It comes after John Healey at the weekend vowed the government would act on any price gouging due to the Iran war.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

The Competition and Markets Authority said in May there was no widespread evidence of price gouging in the weeks after the conflict.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Her successful bet against Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the poster child for drug-price gouging during the 2016 election, landed her a starring role on Netflix’s “Dirty Money” docuseries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

Akhlys’s gnarled fingernails dug into Hercules’s shield, gouging the metal.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan