hitchhike
Americanverb (used without object)
-
hitchhikes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hitchhiked,
past participle, past
-
hitchhiking
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
hitchhikes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hitchhiked,
past participle, past
-
hitchhiking
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hitchhikesimple
-
hitchhikessimple
-
have hitchhikedperfect
-
has hitchhikedperfect
-
am hitchhikingprogressive
-
are hitchhikingprogressive
-
is hitchhikingprogressive
-
have been hitchhikingperfect progressive
-
has been hitchhikingperfect progressive
Past
-
hitchhikedsimple
-
had hitchhikedperfect
-
was hitchhikingprogressive
-
were hitchhikingprogressive
-
had been hitchhikingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hitchhike
Explanation
To hitchhike is to get a free ride from a passing car. If you see someone standing alongside the highway raising a thumb, chances are that person is hitchhiking, not just expressing approval of your driving style. In the past, it wasn't unheard of for people to hitchhike across the country, but it's much less common today. If you hitchhike, you typically stand beside a road or highway with one thumb pointed up. The hope for a hitchhiker is that a car will stop and its driver will provide a free ride. While for many people, hitchhiking was once considered a reasonable way to travel, today it's illegal in some places and generally thought of as dangerous. The word hitchhike dates from the 1920s.
Vocabulary lists containing hitchhike
"Hitching a Ride"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Miracle's Boys
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The pest has shown a remarkable ability to spread quickly and hitchhike, with dead specimens being found as close as Oregon and California.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
While diving, he saw a shark with a remora—a fish which uses suction to hitchhike on larger species—attached to its body, and he had an idea.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 23, 2023
Horsehair worms are born in water and use aquatic insects like mayflies to hitchhike to dry land, where they sit tight until they are eaten by terrestrial insects such as crickets or mantises.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2023
The event's organisers arranged for buses to take people from the road to the nearby city of Reno - but some people say they had to pay for rides or hitchhike out of the area.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2023
Mr. Merriweather could not drive, and if their dissension reached the acrimonious, Mrs. Merriweather would stop the car and hitchhike to town.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
It clearly hitchhikes on small liquid particles sprayed out by an infected person.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2020
A New Jersey girl leaves her boyfriend and hitchhikes to Hollywood to become a star.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2020
RAQQA, Syria — Every three or four days, Fatima Mahmoud hitchhikes 37 miles across a hilly expanse of northeastern Syria to her home town of Raqqa.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2018
She runs away from home, hitchhikes and is picked up by a hearse, driven by Divine in a rare male role.
From New York Times ● Nov. 13, 2015
He wants a ride somewhere and all the nearby Ubers are booked; he ingeniously hitchhikes with a Papa John’s deliveryman.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2015
To try to avoid bringing it home with her after work, she’d toss all her clothes immediately into the dryer so the heat could kill any eggs that may have hitchhiked on her.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
This generation, who as young adults hitchhiked across the country and backpacked through Europe, now is going on safaris and hiking in the Serengeti on guided tours that offer “easy” as well as “challenging” options.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
At age 17, he hitchhiked for nine hours from Ann Arbor, Mich., to New York City to see Davis at the Village Vanguard.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
He said he "hitchhiked to get there, and had a tent, a dream, and three cans of Heinz sausages and beans".
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
I got time off from my job at the South Side Boys’ Club and, along with several other delegates, hitchhiked to New York.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
But for Dreesen, this meant sleeping in a Nash Rambler, a broken-down car that was up on blocks, and hitchhiking up and down Sunset Boulevard hoping to get a five-minute set at the Comedy Store.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
The backpackers were picked up when hitchhiking on a long stretch of road between Sydney and Melbourne.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Indeed, history is filled with examples of this, from the medieval Black Death hitchhiking along the Silk Road to the “Russian flu” pandemic of the late 19th century that was accelerated by trains and steamships.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
In college he spent summers hitchhiking around South America, hiking to Machu Picchu and mostly ignoring warnings of guerrilla activity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
My father tells stories about hitchhiking in pickups across the countryside to Lake Malawi, where he bought bundles of dried fish, rice, and used clothing, to sell back in the Dowa market.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
