wade
verb (used without object)
to walk in water, when partially immersed.
wade
1 American
[weyd]
/ weɪd /
verb (used without object)
-
wades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
waded,
past participle, past
-
wading
present participle
-
to walk in water, when partially immersed.
He wasn't swimming, he was wading.
-
to play in water.
The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.
-
to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement.
to wade through the mud.
-
to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed bythrough ).
to wade through a dull book.
-
Obsolete. to go or proceed.
verb (used with object)
-
wades,
present (3rd person singular)
-
waded,
past participle, past
-
wading
present participle
noun
verb phrase
Wade
2
American
[weyd]
/ weɪd /
noun
-
Benjamin Franklin, 1800–78, U.S. lawyer and antislavery politician.
-
a male given name.
wade
1
British
/ weɪd /
verb
-
to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc)
the girls waded the river at the ford
-
to proceed with difficulty
to wade through a book
-
(intr; foll by in or into) to attack energetically
noun
Wade
2
British
/ weɪd /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wadesimple
-
wadessimple
-
have wadedperfect
-
has wadedperfect
-
am wadingprogressive
-
are wadingprogressive
-
is wadingprogressive
-
have been wadingperfect progressive
-
has been wadingperfect progressive
Past
-
wadedsimple
-
had wadedperfect
-
was wadingprogressive
-
were wadingprogressive
-
had been wadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wade
before 900; Middle English waden to go, wade, Old English wadan to go; cognate with German waten, Old Norse vatha; akin to Old English wæd ford, sea, Latin vadum shoal, ford, vādere to go, rush
Explanation
To wade is to walk through water. If you've been fishing without a boat, you'll have to wade to reach your precious prize (if it gets away, you can brag about how big it was). When you wade, it doesn't have to literally be through a liquid; wading includes any action that involves a laborious slog through something that offers resistance. For example, you might attempt to wade through a huge book like Moby Dick. And if you want to get into a fight? Wade right on into the brawling crowd. Or if it's verbal fisticuffs you're after, wade right on in to the debate.
Vocabulary lists containing wade
Vocabulary from Beyoncé's "Lemonade"
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"The Hill We Climb," by Amanda Gorman
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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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:
“I would never wade into that because I won’t sell anything that I think could lead to harm, and we don’t know enough about them.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
When we decided to wade into one of the most heated debates in sports by declaring England vs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Quite a few religions were considered cults in the beginning, Christianity among them, so it does make some sense not to wade too deeply into the finer distinctions.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
She opened up about the latest body-shaming abuse in an Instagram post on Thursday, saying she felt she needed to "wade in and speak for myself".
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
With a pup under each arm, I’d wade out into the stream and set them down in the cool water.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
Wade says students need to ask their preferred university how much time they have to accept the offer on results day as every university is different.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Walbert Ureña gave up three hits over six innings and Wade Meckler hit a two-run homer to lead the Angels to a 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Wade, and making skillful strides on the world stage.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
“I was a country guy; she was a country girl,” says her then-partner Wade Griffin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
A British player, Robert Wade, supplied Bobby with a detailed analysis of Spassky’s openings in two loose-leaf books, one marked “Spassky; White” and the other “Spassky: Black.”
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
“Toy Story 5” stays closer to home but wades into new territory: the explosion of tech in everyday life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Van Der Beek wades through all of the screenplay’s cynicism in search of something deeper and more complicated — something human.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2026
The RSS also wades into economic and foreign policy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
Keith, her husband, wades in: "I'm looking at what's left of my kitchen."
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2025
Neumann One brakes the truck, and Bernd unslings his rifle and takes the second transceiver and wades alone into the stalks to set it up.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
It's not the first time the US trillionaire has waded into UK politics and he isn't universally welcomed when he does.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Toth, who was involved in the grassroots push long before Trump waded into politics, said the president is just accelerating work that was already underway.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
As we watched the group wander about, a female capybara waded into a mud puddle along the truck path and rolled around happily.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
He waded through lagoon waters with saltwater crocodiles, landing on a white sand beach, carrying a sack of coconuts as a sign of goodwill.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
I waded into the lake and launched into the water, but I’d only swum a few strokes when there was a splash close by.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Lawyers, accountants, city officials—and The Wall Street Journal—are wading through myriad questions about the tax and the rollout so far.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
While investors are wading back into software stocks, many analysts recommend a selective approach, since the threat of AI still clouds the sector.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
"Baptism of fire" is the Observer's headline, accompanied with a picture of a man wading into the ocean as smoke billows from the wildfires in the distance.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The unique conditions the process demanded -- pumping saltwater in and out to maintain a shallow depth -- were also the perfect environment for hungry wading birds.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Apparently that wasn’t what he wanted, because he threw the whale back and kept wading.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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.
