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Synonyms

trudge

American  
[truhj] / trʌdʒ /

verb (used without object)

trudged, trudging
  1. to walk, especially laboriously or wearily.

    to trudge up a long flight of steps.

    Synonyms:
    tramp

verb (used with object)

trudged, trudging
  1. to walk laboriously or wearily along or over.

    He trudged the deserted road for hours.

noun

  1. a laborious or tiring walk; tramp.

trudge British  
/ trʌdʒ /

verb

  1. (intr) to walk or plod heavily or wearily

  2. (tr) to pass through or over by trudging

"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

noun

  1. a long tiring walk

"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

Synonym Usage

See pace 1.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of trudge

First recorded in 1540–50; perhaps blend of tread and drudge

Explanation

To trudge is to walk in a heavy, exhausted way. Your grandpa probably tells you about how he used to trudge six miles uphill through a foot of snow in the brutal cold every morning just to get to school. Trudge is also a noun that means a difficult, labored walk. If you take a mile-long trudge through heavy snow or mud, your steps will be slower and it will require more effort to put one foot in front of the other. Need help remembering what trudge means? Say it out loud. Trudge rhymes with sludge — and walking through sludge, or thick muck, would cause you to trudge.

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Vocabulary lists containing trudge

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.

Trudge deeper into the name and there’s the ’Mans.

From Washington Post • Feb. 2, 2022

The distance between living and writing is responsible too for the shadow European history cast over Fermor as he sat down to write his Trudge books.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2014

Step3 - Trudge my way home though the snow and sign my soul away to the Murdoch empire in order to watch Bumble and Co make complete fools of themselves.

From The Guardian • Dec. 3, 2010

I believe," he said dryly, "you call that noise of yours 'the College Tramp;' in the Senatus we speak o't as 'the Cuddies' Trudge.'

From The House with the Green Shutters by Brown, George Douglas

Trudge and slip on the shell-hole's lip, and fall in the clinging mire— Steady in front, go steady!

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, January 31, 1917 by Various

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