wade

¹

[weyd]

verb (used without object)

waded, wading 

1. to walk in water, when partially immersed.

   He wasn't swimming, he was wading.

2. to play in water.

   The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.

3. to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement.

   to wade through the mud.

4. to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed bythrough ).

   to wade through a dull book.

   Synonyms: work, plow, plod, toil, labor

5. Obsolete.,  to go or proceed.

verb (used with object)

waded, wading 

1. to pass through or cross by wading; ford.

   to wade a stream.

noun

1. an act or instance of wading.

   We went for a wade in the shallows.

verb phrase

1. wade in / into

   1. to begin energetically.

   2. to attack strongly.

      to wade into a thoughtless child; to wade into a mob of rioters.

Wade

²

[weyd]

noun

1. Benjamin Franklin, 1800–78, U.S. lawyer and antislavery politician.

2. a male given name.

wade

¹

/ weɪd /

verb

1. to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc)

   the girls waded the river at the ford

2. to proceed with difficulty

   to wade through a book

3. (intr; foll by in or into) to attack energetically

noun

1. the act or an instance of wading

Wade

²

/ weɪd /

noun

1. ( Sarah ) Virginia. born 1945, English tennis player; won three Grand Slam singles titles: US Open (1968), Australian Open (1972), and Wimbledon (1977)

Other Word Forms

• unwaded adjective
• unwading adjective
• wadable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wade¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wade¹

Old English wadan; related to Old Frisian wada, Old High German watan, Old Norse vatha, Latin vadum _ford

Example Sentences

Traverse lines were installed to help people avoid having to wade through water.

From BBC

Only a month later, Jarmond faced backlash for being slow to wade into a controversy involving a racial slur used by a member of the women’s gymnastics team.

From Los Angeles Times

Frazier was the street fighter, willing to wade into the action and take whatever damage that might bring so he could get close enough to inflict his own.

From Los Angeles Times

One, which shows him wading deeper as he walked down an inundated street, got three million views.

From BBC

“Eureka Day,” a comedy by Jonathan Spector that wades into the debate on vaccine mandates, has only become more explosively topical since its 2018 premiere at Aurora Theatre Company, in Berkeley, Calif.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bathe 
• paddle 
• splash 
• stumble 
• trek