walk
Americanverb (used without object)
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walks,
present (3rd person singular)
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walked,
past participle, past
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walking
present participle
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to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadrupedal locomotion.
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to move about or travel on foot for exercise or pleasure.
We can walk in the park after lunch.
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(of things) to move in a manner suggestive of walking, as through repeated vibrations or the effect of alternate expansion and contraction.
If she keeps playing so hard, that vase will walk right off the piano.
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Baseball. to receive a base on balls.
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Slang.
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to go on strike; stage a walkout.
The miners will walk unless they get a pay raise.
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to be acquitted or to be released or fined rather than sentenced to jail.
If the prosecutor doesn't present his case well, the murderer may walk.
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to go about on the earth, or appear to living persons, as a ghost.
to believe that spirits walk at night.
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(of a tool, pointer, or pen of a recording device, etc.) to glide, slip, or move from a straight course, fixed position, or the like.
A regular drill bit may walk on a plastic surface when you first try to make a hole.
When the earthquake started, the pen on the seismograph walked all over the paper.
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to conduct oneself in a particular manner; pursue a particular course of life.
to walk humbly with thy God.
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Basketball. travel.
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Obsolete. to be in motion or action.
verb (used with object)
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walks,
present (3rd person singular)
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walked,
past participle, past
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walking
present participle
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to proceed through, over, or upon at a moderate pace on foot.
walking London streets by night;
walking the floor all night.
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to cause to walk; lead, drive, or ride at a walk, as an animal.
We walked our horses the last quarter of a mile.
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to force or help to walk, as a person.
They were walking him around the room soon after his operation.
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to conduct or accompany on a walk.
He walked them about the park.
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to move (a box, trunk, or other object) in a manner suggestive of walking, as by a rocking motion.
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Baseball. (of a pitcher) to give a base on balls to (a batter).
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to spend or pass (time) in walking (often followed byaway ).
We walked the morning away along the beach.
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to cause or accomplish by walking.
We saw them walking guard over the chain gang.
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to examine, measure, etc., by traversing on foot: to walk the boundaries of the property.
to walk a track;
to walk the boundaries of the property.
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Informal. to send (a person who has a reservation at a hotel) to another hotel because of overbooking.
It's exasperating to find yourself walked when you arrive at a hotel late in the evening.
noun
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walks
plural
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an act or instance of walking, or going on foot at a moderate pace.
- Synonyms:
- constitutional, promenade, stroll
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an act, instance, or period of going somewhere on foot at a moderate pace for exercise or pleasure.
After lunch we went for a walk on one of the nearby trails.
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a distance covered or to be covered on foot, often in terms of the time required.
My cottage is about ten minutes' walk from a little general store.
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the gait or pace of a person or an animal that walks, or moves along on foot at slow or moderate speed.
The horse allowed itself to be led at a walk around the paddock.
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a characteristic or individual manner of moving along on foot.
It was impossible to mistake her walk.
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a department or branch of activity, or a particular line of work.
They found every walk of life closed against them.
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Baseball. base on balls.
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a path or way for pedestrians at the side of a street or road; sidewalk.
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a place prepared or set apart for walking.
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a path in a garden or the like.
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a passage between rows of trees.
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an enclosed yard, pen, or the like where domestic animals are fed and left to exercise.
- Synonyms:
- run
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the walk. race walking.
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a sheepwalk.
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a ropewalk.
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(in the West Indies) a plantation of trees, especially coffee trees.
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a group, company, or congregation, especially of snipes.
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British.
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the route of a street vendor, tradesman, or the like.
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the district or area in which such a route is located.
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a tract of forest land under the charge of one forester or keeper.
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Archaic. manner of behavior; conduct; course of life.
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Obsolete. a haunt or resort.
verb phrase
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walk out with to court or be courted by.
Cook is walking out with the chauffeur.
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walk out
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to go on strike.
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to leave in protest.
to walk out of a committee meeting.
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walk up (of a hunter) to flush (game) by approaching noisily on foot and often with hunting dogs.
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walk off to get rid of by walking.
to walk off a headache.
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walk through
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to release (a play) by combining a reading aloud of the lines with the designated physical movements.
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Informal. to perform (a role, play, etc.) in a perfunctory manner.
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to make little or no effort in performing one's role.
He didn't like the script and walked through his part.
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walk out on to leave unceremoniously; desert; forsake.
to walk out on one's family.
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walk off with
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to remove illegally; steal.
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to win or attain, as in a competition.
to walk off with the first prize for flower arrangements.
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to surpass one's competitors; win easily.
to walk off with the fight.
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idioms
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take a walk, to leave, especially abruptly and without any intention or prospect of returning (often used imperatively to indicate dismissal).
If he doesn't get his way, he takes a walk.
I don't need your advice, so take a walk.
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walk (someone) through, to guide or instruct carefully one step at a time.
The teacher will walk the class through the entire testing procedure before the real test begins.
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walk Spanish,
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to be forced by another to walk on tiptoe.
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to walk cautiously.
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to be discharged or dismissed.
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to discharge or dismiss (someone).
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walk the plank. plank.
verb
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(intr) to move along or travel on foot at a moderate rate; advance in such a manner that at least one foot is always on the ground
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(tr) to pass through, on, or over on foot, esp habitually
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(tr) to cause, assist, or force to move along at a moderate rate
to walk a dog
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(tr) to escort or conduct by walking
to walk someone home
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(intr) (of ghosts, spirits, etc) to appear or move about in visible form
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(of inanimate objects) to move or cause to move in a manner that resembles walking
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(intr) to follow a certain course or way of life
to walk in misery
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(tr) to bring into a certain condition by walking
I walked my shoes to shreds
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(tr) to measure, survey, or examine by walking
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(tr) baseball to allow a batter to go to first base without batting by throwing four balls outside of the strike zone
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Also: travel. (intr) basketball to take more than two steps without passing or dribbling the ball
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to disappear or be stolen
where's my pencil? It seems to have walked
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slang (intr) (in a court of law) to be acquitted or given a noncustodial sentence
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to win easily
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See plank 1
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to be delighted or exhilarated
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informal to have self-respect or pride
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to be a prostitute
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to wander round a town or city, esp when looking for work or having nowhere to stay
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informal to put theory into practice See also talk
you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?
noun
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the act or an instance of walking
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the distance or extent walked
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a manner of walking; gait
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a place set aside for walking; promenade
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a chosen profession or sphere of activity (esp in the phrase walk of life )
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a foot race in which competitors walk
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an arrangement of trees or shrubs in widely separated rows
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the space between such rows
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an enclosed ground for the exercise or feeding of domestic animals, esp horses
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the route covered in the course of work, as by a tradesman or postman
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a procession; march
Orange walk
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obsolete the section of a forest controlled by a keeper
Usage
What is a basic definition of walk? Walk is a verb that means to move at a moderate pace with the feet. A walk is a period of time spent walking. Walk can also mean to help someone walk or to cause something to walk. Walk has many other senses as a noun and verb. Walk is also used in several idioms. When you walk, you stand upright and put one foot in front of the other at a normal pace. Normally, when most people want to move from place to place, they walk. We also use walk to describe the movement of animals with more than two legs that alternate feet as they move. For example, you could say that your cat walked across a street.
- Real-life examples: It is a major life stage when toddlers learn how to walk. You might walk to the store to buy food. Cities are full of people walking on the sidewalks.
- Used in a sentence: My foot hurts so badly that I can barely walk.
- Used in a sentence: I got so angry that I had to take a walk to cool down.
- Used in a sentence: Tamica walked her elderly neighbor across the busy intersection.
- Used in a sentence: Nathan claims he can lift 600 pounds. He can talk the talk, but can he walk the walk?
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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walksimple
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walkssimple
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have walkedperfect
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has walkedperfect
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am walkingprogressive
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are walkingprogressive
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is walkingprogressive
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have been walkingperfect progressive
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has been walkingperfect progressive
Past
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walkedsimple
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had walkedperfect
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was walkingprogressive
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were walkingprogressive
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had been walkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of walk
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb walken, Old English wealcan “to roll, toss,” gewealcan “to go”; cognate with Dutch, German walken “to full (cloth),” Old Norse vālka “to toss”; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
"Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking out the door...." That's right, putting your feet into motion is what you need to do to walk. The words walk isn't just used to describe the action of taking one step in front of the other. In baseball, it's a term for when a batter receives four balls and is given the right to walk to first base. When a horse's gate is slow and it keeps two feel always on the ground, that's a walk. When you choose a particular path for yourself in life, you could call that a walk of life.
Vocabulary lists containing walk
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 got to just go walk over there.’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Behind the pageantry, Xi’s team built his schedule around how long he could stand, how far he could walk and when he would need to stop, according to people familiar with the planning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
At the time Roberts interviewed Pike, she was incarcerated for at least 23 hours a day, only let out for a one-hour walk on some days.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
“A walk to the Grove, a movie over a shared tub of popcorn, and a stop at the Kibitz Room on the way home.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
On our daily walk, Father and I saw the symptoms spread.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Plus, Byron Donalds walks a tightrope of Trump loyalty and Levi’s is trying to take advantage of the back-to-the-future shift in style tastes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
With the Dodgers’ lead cut to one run, Skubal labored through the rest of the sixth inning, issuing a pair of walks, his first of the game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Not to give away any spoilers, but this is the ultimate lesson in Goldie’s new book, “The Retirement Answer,” and it is the culmination of six key decisions he walks readers through.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
It is also a testament to the democratizing power of the camera: Is there another invention that has enabled people from all walks of life to realize their artistic visions on such a scale?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
She lives around here and walks freely—except at night.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Then he began noticing changes in the way he walked.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Just four months after getting engaged, the pair walked down the aisle on the Isle of Arran.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Officers are appealing to anyone who routinely walked in the Siliwen Road and Ashley Fields areas of Bangor between 30 August and 27 September to come forward.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
David was uncharacteristically late, and when he appeared out of the crowd, he walked with an uncertain gait and had a fixed expression on his face.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
‘We’ve done everything he said. We’ve walked for two whole days. Crossed three valleys. Followed the stream he mentioned. Still nothing. I think he was just trying to get rid of us.’
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
She added that the historic bridge could be enjoyed from afar and asked visitors to refrain from walking on the dried-up section of the reservoir.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Similar speculation arose after his 2019 European tour, when video appeared to show him walking with a slight limp and using the arms of a chair to steady himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Before blood pressure was measured, participants emptied their bladders and walked for two minutes to simulate the typical experience of walking into a clinic or medical office before a screening.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Manufacturers and retailers are also walking an oil-products tightrope, trying to balance higher fuel costs with their profit margins, and passing costs along to consumers is not always in their best interest.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
“That guy’s a walking red flag, Lexie. He’s not good for you.”
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
