trek
Americanverb (used without object)
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to travel or migrate slowly or with difficulty, often through rough or unsettled territory.
He managed to escape from a Siberian labor camp and trekked to Iran, a three-year journey.
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to hike long distances as a recreational activity, especially over rough terrain.
He's trekked through the Himalayas and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro.
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to make a short but difficult trip on foot.
We trekked back to our hotel in the pouring rain.
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South Africa. to travel by ox wagon.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a slow or difficult journey, hike, or trip.
-
South Africa.
-
a migration or expedition, especially by ox wagon.
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a stage of such a journey, between one stopping place and the next.
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noun
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a long and often difficult journey
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a journey or stage of a journey, esp a migration by ox wagon
verb
-
(intr) to make a trek
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(tr) (of an ox, etc) to draw (a load)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
treksimple
-
trekssimple
-
have trekkedperfect
-
has trekkedperfect
-
am trekkingprogressive
-
are trekkingprogressive
-
is trekkingprogressive
-
have been trekkingperfect progressive
-
has been trekkingperfect progressive
Past
-
trekkedsimple
-
had trekkedperfect
-
was trekkingprogressive
-
were trekkingprogressive
-
had been trekkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trek
First recorded in 1845–50; from Afrikaans and Dutch noun trek “a tug, pull, march”; verb from Afrikaans trek “to draw, pull, migrate,” from Dutch trekken
Explanation
Want to go on a trek through the mountains? Make sure you have good shoes, drinking water, and snacks. A trek is a long and difficult journey. The word trek implies an extended trip that is hard — a climb up a mountain or a journey through dense forests. In Star Trek, the crew of the Enterprise is on a journey through space that will last a long time. You wouldn't say that you took a trek to the corner grocery unless you had to fight through three feet of snow to get there.
Vocabulary lists containing trek
President Obama's Farewell Address
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Stargirl
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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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:
The Pierside in Santa Monica has been exceptionally busy during the World Cup, with many tourists opting to stay near the beach despite the longer trek to SoFi Stadium where the games are held.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The world's longest commercial long-haul flight has been announced, a non-stop trek from Sydney to London that can take up to 22 hours.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Toronto’s BMO Field, which will host six matches, is located downtown, making it an easy trek from nearby hotels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Trucks wobbling under piles of amber-colored globules would make the twice-daily trek from Al-Nahud, a town 120 miles west of Obeid and an agricultural hub for the most prized variety of gum arabic, Hashab.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
If they only had to trek across 346 miles of flat ice field, the journey would have been bearable.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Fast-forward to now: Such treks have taken on an “Eat, Pray, Love” aura.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
This mission is a test flight designed to inform future treks, such as Artemis IV, a moon landing currently slated for 2028.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
They bought a house in El Valle de Anton, a beautiful town known for exotic wildlife, breathtaking treks, and fresh mountain air.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026
The shoot involved long treks up a mountain each day, unpredictable weather, veteran actors, heavy equipment and frequent rushes to beat the rain and descending clouds.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026
There might even be time to enjoy it all, now that they had ten-minute commutes by bus as opposed to ninety-minute treks by train and on foot.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Michele described carrying a binder with hundreds of pages of medical records and creating spreadsheets to track symptoms as they trekked from hospital to hospital, doctor to doctor, to get treatment for Aidan.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
To make it possible, Meyers Taylor trekked to Vancouver, Sochi, Pyeongchang, and Beijing in her 16-year search for Olympic glory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
Leaving three of the men behind, Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean trekked across the island for three days until they reached Stromness whaling station.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
“A big part of what I do is walking and doing urban hikes,” she said, noting that she’s trekked through nearly 20 countries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
We trekked along the mountainside, looking for pieces that weren’t waterlogged or rotten, shaking the snow off branches.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Isak Andic died in late 2024 after falling more than 300 feet into a gorge while out trekking with his son Jonathan in the Montserrat mountain range near Barcelona.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Whitney, trekking over mountainous terrain of at least 13,000-foot elevation to get there, said Axel Hunnicutt, gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
But scientists warn global warming-induced fast melting glaciers are causing many Himalayan glacial lakes to expand dangerously - meaning they can then burst out and sweep away downstream settlements, trekking routes and bridges.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
He’s trekking Greenland, threatening to make it America’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Most of the commuters heading back to Newark at this hour are exhausted housekeepers trekking back to their urban dwellings after a day in the wealthier suburbs.
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
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.
