ride
verb (used without object)
to sit on and manage a horse or other animal in motion; be carried on the back of an animal.
ride
1 American
[rahyd]
/ raɪd /
verb (used without object)
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rides,
present (3rd person singular)
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rode,
past
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rid,
past (Archaic)
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ridden,
past participle
-
riding
present participle
-
to sit on and manage a horse or other animal in motion; be carried on the back of an animal.
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to be borne along on or in a vehicle or other kind of conveyance.
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to move or float on the water.
the surfboarders riding on the crests of the waves.
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to move along in any way; be carried or supported.
He is riding along on his friend's success. Distress is riding among the people.
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to have a specified character for riding purposes.
The car rides smoothly.
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to be conditioned; depend (usually followed byon ).
All his hopes are riding on getting that promotion.
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Informal. to continue without interruption or interference.
He decided to let the bet ride.
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to be carried on something, as a litter, a person's shoulders, or the like.
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to work or move up from the proper place or position (usually followed byup ).
Her skirt rode up above her knees.
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to extend or project over something, as the edge of one thing over the edge of another thing.
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to turn or rest on something.
the great globe of the world riding on its axis.
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to appear to float in space, as a heavenly body.
A blood-red moon rode in the cloudless sky.
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to lie at anchor, as a ship.
verb (used with object)
-
rides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rode,
past
-
rid,
past (Archaic)
-
ridden,
past participle
-
riding
present participle
-
to sit on and manage (a horse, bicycle, etc.) so as to be carried along.
-
to sit or move along on (something); be carried or borne along on.
The ship rode the waves. We ride a bus.
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to ride over, along, or through (a road, boundary, region, etc.); traverse.
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to ridicule or harass persistently.
The boys keep riding him about his poor grades.
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to control, dominate, or tyrannize over.
a man ridden by fear; a country that is ridden by a power-mad dictator.
-
to cause to ride.
-
to carry (a person) on something as if on a horse.
He rode the child about on his back.
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to execute by riding.
to ride a race.
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to rest on, especially by overlapping.
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to keep (a vessel) at anchor or moored.
-
Jazz. to play improvisations on (a melody).
noun
-
rides
plural
-
a journey or excursion on a horse, camel, etc., or on or in a vehicle.
-
a means of or arrangement for transportation by motor vehicle.
We'll handle rides to be sure everyone gets home quickly.
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the vehicle used for transportation.
I've got to hang up now—my ride's here.
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a vehicle or device, as a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, or merry-go-round, on which people ride for amusement.
-
a way, road, etc., made especially for riding.
verb phrase
idioms
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ride herd on. herd.
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ride for a fall, to conduct oneself so as to invite misfortune or injury.
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ride the beam, to fly along the course indicated by a radio beam.
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take for a ride,
-
to murder, especially by abducting the victim for that purpose.
-
to deceive; trick.
It was obvious to everyone but me that I was being taken for a ride.
-
-
ride down,
-
to trample or overturn by riding upon or against.
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to ride up to; overtake; capture.
The posse rode down the escaping bank robber.
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Nautical. to bear down upon (a rope of a tackle) with all one's weight.
-
-
ride shotgun. shotgun.
Ride
2
American
[rahyd]
/ raɪd /
noun
ride
British
/ raɪd /
verb
-
to sit on and control the movements of (a horse or other animal)
-
(tr) to sit on and propel (a bicycle or similar vehicle)
-
(intr; often foll by on or in) to be carried along or travel on or in a vehicle
she rides to work on the bus
-
(tr) to travel over or traverse
they rode the countryside in search of shelter
-
(tr) to take part in by riding
to ride a race
-
to travel through or be carried across (sea, sky, etc)
the small boat rode the waves
the moon was riding high
-
(tr) to cause to be carried
to ride someone out of town
-
(intr) to be supported as if floating
the candidate rode to victory on his new policies
-
(intr) (of a vessel) to lie at anchor
-
(tr) (of a vessel) to be attached to (an anchor)
-
(esp of a bone) to overlap or lie over (another structure or part)
-
informal
-
(intr) to drive a car
-
(tr) to transport (goods, farm produce, etc) by motor vehicle or cart
-
-
(tr) (of a male animal) to copulate with; mount
-
slang (tr) to have sexual intercourse with (someone)
-
(tr; usually passive) to tyrannize over or dominate
ridden by fear
-
informal (tr) to persecute, esp by constant or petty criticism
don't ride me so hard over my failure
-
informal (intr) to continue undisturbed
I wanted to change something, but let it ride
-
(tr) to endure successfully; ride out
-
(tr) to yield slightly to (a blow or punch) in order to lessen its impact
-
(of a bet) to remain placed
let your winnings ride on the same number
-
(intr) jazz to play well, esp in freely improvising at perfect tempo
-
to domineer over or act with complete disregard for
-
to take part in a fox hunt on horseback
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to act in such a way as to invite disaster
-
informal to return to a former activity or scene of activity
-
confident, popular, and successful
noun
-
a journey or outing on horseback or in a vehicle
-
a path specially made for riding on horseback
-
transport in a vehicle, esp when given freely to a pedestrian; lift
can you give me a ride to the station?
-
a device or structure, such as a roller coaster at a fairground, in which people ride for pleasure or entertainment
-
slang an act of sexual intercourse
-
slang a partner in sexual intercourse
-
informal
-
to cheat, swindle, or deceive
-
to take (someone) away in a car and murder him
-
ride
More Idioms
Usage
What is a basic definition of ride? Ride is a verb that means to sit on the back of a moving animal or to travel in or on a vehicle, like a car. A ride is a journey made on an animal or using a vehicle. Ride has many other senses as a verb and a noun. When someone rides an animal, they are usually sitting on the animal’s back while it moves. In general, the word ride is used even if the animal is uncooperative or is trying to get rid of the person sitting on them. The person sitting on the animal is called a rider. Its past tenses are rode and ridden.
- Real-life examples: Horses are the most common animal that people ride. Cowboys attempt to ride angry bulls at rodeos. In many Asian countries, people ride camels.
- Used in a sentence: I like to ride horses with my mom.
- Real-life examples: People ride bikes, motorcycles, and skateboards. Airplanes, submarines, boats, cars, trains, buses, and subway cars are vehicles that people ride in.
- Used in a sentence: Grant rides the subway to get to work.
- Real-life examples: Petting zoos often offer pony rides to children. A trip from Tokyo to Berlin would be a long ride, no matter what kind of vehicle you used. People who are afraid of heights probably won’t be fans of airplane rides.
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Used in a sentence: My college years were a wild ride.
Synonym Usage
See drive.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ridesimple
-
ridessimple
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have riddenperfect
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has riddenperfect
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am ridingprogressive
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are ridingprogressive
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is ridingprogressive
-
have been ridingperfect progressive
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has been ridingperfect progressive
Past
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ridsimple
-
rodesimple
-
had riddenperfect
-
was ridingprogressive
-
were ridingprogressive
-
had been ridingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ride
First recorded before 900; 1915–20 ride for def. 17; Middle English riden (verb), Old English rīdan; cognate with Old Frisian rīda, German reiten, Old Norse rītha; akin to Old Irish ríad “journey” ( cf. palfrey, rheda)
Explanation
To ride is to be carried in a car, on a bike, or on an animal. When you ride a horse for the first time, it's often surprising how far off the ground you are. You can ride in the back of a taxi or on a Ferris wheel at the fair. You can also ride — and control — a pony or a bicycle. As a noun, ride means "a trip in a vehicle," or a roller coaster or other amusement park entertainment. In the U.S., ride has also been an informal name for a car since about 1930: "Check out my new ride!"
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:
She chats up her neighbors, and asks them what they need help with or if they need resources or a ride.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2026
It has made their permits and approvals strictly a state business, hoping to offer developers a smoother ride and to attract jobs and a larger tax base.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The battery metal has been on a roller-coaster ride in recent years, as the small but fast-growing market manages mismatches in supply and demand-as well as sudden swings in sentiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
During a ride in a Southern California desert, sales executive Scott Nelson stopped his dirt bike, pulled out a rifle and shot his old iPod.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
“First we’ve got to ride all the way over there,” Katherine complained.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Connolly, the Calgary realtor, in July hosted “Rad Ride 40,” a two-day rolling tribute that took fans past the filming sites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
Ride a thrilling, creature-heavy makeover of Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout! in Disney California Adventure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
It's placed right next to the iconic blue t-shirt worn by Sally Ride on the 1983 Shuttle mission when she became the first American woman in space.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Beside it is the pale blue flight jacket of Sally Ride, a physicist who in 1983 became the first American woman in space.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
"Ride at first light. These things are best done quickly."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Among the rides in the Walliams-themed area of the park were Gangsta Granny: The Ride, a 360° special effects attraction, as well as Raj's Bouncy Bottom Burp, Royal Carousel and Flavio's Fabulous Fandango.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
The video is an L.A. dirtbag delight — she pops a Cronenberg-worthy zit, fights cops in a VR headset and rides a “Gaymo” off to meet a crush.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
One of her friends, 80-year-old Teresa Corona Garza of San Juan, has relied on Gomez for rides to the polls for some time now.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2026
Waymo now provides more than 500,000 paid rides per week across 15 US metropolitan areas and aims to reach one million weekly rides by the end of the year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
My mother rides our donkey, and my brothers, Isaac and Jacob, carry our provisions—bread and cheese, eggplant empanadillas, roasted eggs, olives cured in salt, dried figs, almonds, and walnuts—and our few belongings.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
"The truth is, I didn't know for sure, but what you're trying to do isn't find a traitor, it's trying to get rid of everyone who isn't the most faithful," he explained.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Officials are implementing new repayment plans, getting rid of old ones and reportedly preparing to restart debt collection on defaulted student loans.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
But maybe the solution is to get rid of it, full stop?
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2026
“If you hold an ETF in a taxable account, the amount of tax you’d pay to switch is prohibitive, and your best option to get rid of it is to drop dead.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Nicole knew all about lactic acid buildup, but she was surprised Rashawn knew about it, and what to do to get rid of it.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Meanwhile the share who rode as passengers increased to 54% from 45%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
A warning system would have offered little help for ships in the immediate vicinity, but it could have provided perhaps 10 minutes of warning for those who rode out the harrowing tsunami farther away.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
The port city rode the age of empire only to plunge into crisis in the 1980s and ’90s from shifts in global trade, deindustrialization and Margaret Thatcher’s crackdown on unions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Residents walked and rode bicycles along the boardwalk as dozers and excavators moved along the beach, reinforcing the several-foot-high berms built to protect homes from the ocean waves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
They rode up to the third floor, where the doors opened on an expansive lab behind a wall of glass.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
The son of Into Mischief, ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Bob Baffert, went off at odds of 4-5 and returned $3.64 after covering the distance in 1 minute 42.27 seconds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
When stocks linked to the booming artificial-intelligence trade have struggled, so-called “non-AI” stocks have ridden to the rescue, and vice versa.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
I’ve ridden 22 airplanes so far in 2026, to the Midwest, East Coast and Japan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Having ridden 60 winners since the start of May, Osborne is currently sitting eighth in the Flat Jockeys Championship, and is open about dreaming of being champion jockey in the future.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
If Grandpa had ridden home in the back seat with his arm around Miss Love, I’d of thought everything I heard was just a bad dream.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Brown, who grew up in Alice Springs, said he never dreamed as a kid that he would be riding the Melbourne Cup, but he had been given "a lot of great support" in his career.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Anthropic’s upcoming initial public offering is a big deal for Wall Street — and for the big technology companies that have a lot riding on the company’s success.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
Musk has a lot riding on Tuesday’s results.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2026
Ninth graders Marley Handley, left, and Audrey Baca take a selfie while riding the bus to a Patriot High girls’ flag football game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
The afternoon sun sparked off the square specs riding down his nose.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
