trudge
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
(intr) to walk or plod heavily or wearily
-
(tr) to pass through or over by trudging
noun
Synonym Usage
See pace 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
trudgesimple
-
trudgessimple
-
have trudgedperfect
-
has trudgedperfect
-
am trudgingprogressive
-
are trudgingprogressive
-
is trudgingprogressive
-
have been trudgingperfect progressive
-
has been trudgingperfect progressive
Past
-
trudgedsimple
-
had trudgedperfect
-
was trudgingprogressive
-
were trudgingprogressive
-
had been trudgingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing trudge
List 3
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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:
We trudge through entire chapters bearing names like “The Sea and the Desert” or “The Beach Again” without meeting another living soul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Analysts have pointed to a few reasons they believe stocks are set to trudge higher into New Year’s Day.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 21, 2025
“Although almost all of those still kind of trudge along in some state or another.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025
The rain is incessant as we trudge past the trees and through the long grass and into their habitat.
From BBC ● May 28, 2024
With no further talk the boys parted, Heqet to trudge up the dusky street toward the goldhouse, Ranofer to start the long walk home.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
For now, Zombie LIV trudges on at a tournament in Mexico City that neither you or I are watching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Redick’s formalized interview process this weekend, though, could be a pivot point in the search, a moment where things come to a close or whether the process trudges on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2024
“Benacerraf’s grand style,” he wrote, “captures the drama of subsistence in the face of nature,” adding that “the overwhelming beauty of the wide-open spaces contrasts with the workers’ burdened trudges through them.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
A disconsolate-looking Abdallah Sima trudges off - yet another injury problem for the Rangers manager.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2024
He trudges off across the square and I look at Peeta.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
Worn down, he muted the show, handed it over to another host and trudged up the stairs to his office to do the math manually.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Two elephants trudged across a makeshift football field at Mexico's Guadalajara Zoo in a whacky attempt to predict the score of the 2026 World Cup's opening game.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
Hundreds of people trudged up the steep switchbacks in single file.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
As she trudged over to the touchline, Chelsea supporters chanted: "Bunny Shaw, we'll see you next season."
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
Every morning my father trudged up a flight of stairs to the communal shower in nothing but a small white towel.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
The largest beef processor in the U.S. by volume is among companies trudging through a nationwide cattle shortage that’s driving up prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
For all the times that feeding yourself feels like trudging through a fog of obligation, sometimes a craving arrives fully formed, as if it’s been plotting in the background.
From Salon ● Nov. 12, 2025
Johnson was dismissed in the 55th minute after clattering into Lopez, a needless challenge that initially earned a yellow card from Erik Lambrechts before VAR sent him trudging to the dressing room.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
The sight of the downcast and dejected Mohamed Salah trudging off as Liverpool desperately chased an equaliser against Manchester United was an ominous symbol of their current struggles.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2025
Montez in a blue army uniform, trudging along toward battle with an old rifled musket, shoulders slumped.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
