raid
Americannoun
-
raids
plural
-
a sudden assault or attack, as upon something to be seized or suppressed.
a police raid on a gambling ring.
- Synonyms:
- seizure
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Military. a sudden attack on the enemy, as by air or by a small land force.
-
a vigorous, large-scale effort to lure away a competitor's employees, members, etc.
-
Finance. a concerted attempt of speculators to force stock prices down.
verb (used with object)
-
raids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
raided,
past participle, past
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raiding
present participle
-
to make a raid on.
-
to steal from; loot.
a worry that the investment fund is being raided.
-
to entice away from another.
Large companies are raiding key personnel from smaller companies.
-
to indulge oneself by taking from, especially in order to eat.
raiding the cookie jar.
verb (used without object)
-
raids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
raided,
past participle, past
-
raiding
present participle
noun
verb
-
to make a raid against (a person, thing, etc)
-
to sneak into (a place) in order to take something, steal, etc
raiding the larder
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
raidsimple
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raidssimple
-
have raidedperfect
-
has raidedperfect
-
am raidingprogressive
-
are raidingprogressive
-
is raidingprogressive
-
have been raidingperfect progressive
-
has been raidingperfect progressive
Past
-
raidedsimple
-
had raidedperfect
-
was raidingprogressive
-
were raidingprogressive
-
had been raidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of raid
1375–1425; Middle English (north and Scots ) ra ( i ) de, Old English rād expedition, literally, a riding; doublet of road
Explanation
A raid is a military attack, especially a quick surprise attack. The word comes from the military but has spread out — police might raid a shady nightclub to find bad guys, or a babysitter might raid the refrigerator. When an army launches a raid, you can say they raid, or attack abruptly. This verb can also be used to mean "search" or "enter unexpectedly," as when police officers raid a suspect's home or summer campers' raid a neighboring cabin. The military meaning is the oldest, and the word comes from the Scottish rade, "a riding" or "a journey," from the Old English rad, which is also the root of road.
Vocabulary lists containing raid
Chinese History - Introductory
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Indiana Jones Vocabulary
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Chinese History - Middle School and High School
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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:
Mobile internet speeds will be slowed for 30 minutes during air raid drills in central and northern regions, as the government seeks to expose ordinary people to communications disruptions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
They said that males are more likely to raid farms as they usually take more risks than females and calves.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
But executives were also distracted by other, more pressing issues, such as fending off a talent raid launched by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and fixing a worsening relationship with Microsoft, its largest investor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
When questioned in court about these texts, the male agent said that he complained to HSI management after an Aug. 3 Home Depot raid in Paramount, which he felt violated the judge’s order.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
I counted those who had been arrested with us: 35 people from the raid on the Beje.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
They added that since Labour came to power, Immigration Enforcement action has increased "to the highest level in British history, with illegal working arrests up by 83% and raids up by 77%."
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The example they set by monetizing Greek military talent would lure many others into the freebooting life and ultimately lead, seven decades later, to the enormous plundering raids of Alexander the Great.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Hagans, the union leader, said she had been advising members affected by the Supreme Court ruling to get their affairs in order in case they were swept up by immigration raids.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
The data shows 177 raids occurred in the SE13 area during 2025.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Someone raids the Dauntless kitchens and heats up the imperishables kept there, so we have a warm dinner that night.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
South Korean police have raided the national headquarters of Starbucks over defamation claims surrounding a controversial marketing campaign.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
In October, Los Angeles police raided the Santa Monica warehouse of CoolKicks, a popular sneaker reseller, while its co-founder Adeel Shams was streaming live on Whatnot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Board of Education had placed Carvalho on paid leave on Feb. 27, two days after FBI agents raided his San Pedro home and downtown L.A. office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
It looked as though the vendor had raided a secret convention of 1990s elementary-school teachers and persuaded them to turn in their uniforms.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
I raided the basement for hammers and saws and threw them in the back of Roy Lee’s wreck of a car.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Don’t tell Jason Gay, but I don’t think most of these people were raiding a college-savings plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
And Greece's Akylas had the most kaleidoscopic performance - sliding down a fireman's pole, raiding a bank vault and dancing with a Greek statue during his techno banger, Ferto.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
It would merely be a different flavor of raiding the Treasury for personal gain.
From Slate ● May 16, 2026
“A 29% rate of preretirees raiding 10% or more of savings for a family emergency means people are going into retirement short,” Judge said.
From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026
One screen has the words Helmet Cam written at the top and shows agents in gray suits raiding a haunted house.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
Definitions 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.
