tow truck

American

noun

wrecker.

tow truck British

noun

Also called: breakdown van, wrecker. a motor vehicle equipped for towing away wrecked or disabled cars

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

tow trucks

plural

Etymology

Origin of tow truck

First recorded in 1940–45

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:

tow truck

Rising fuel prices 'cost tow truck business £10k'

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The roadside-assistance company Ortego works for pays for gas on the tow truck he was driving Thursday, which now takes $110 to fill up instead of the $70 it cost last month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026

Then all that’s left is the long, sad ride in the cab of a tow truck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

The videos all show a tow truck pulling into a driveway or along a curb and quietly leaving with a vehicle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026

When Brad’s father came to their Mountain View Inn in his tow truck to take Brad home, he met Ryan’s mother.

From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023