wall
Americannoun
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walls
plural
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any of various permanent upright constructions having a length much greater than the thickness and presenting a continuous surface except where pierced by doors, windows, etc.: used for shelter, protection, or privacy, or to subdivide interior space, to support floors, roofs, or the like, to retain earth, to fence in an area, etc.
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Usually walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes.
- Synonyms:
- bastion, barrier, bulwark, breastwork, battlement
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an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall.
a wall of prejudice.
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a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc..
a wall of fire;
a wall of troops.
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an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.
- Synonyms:
- dike
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the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object.
the wall of a blood cell.
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Soccer. a line of defenders standing shoulder to shoulder in an attempt to block a free kick with their bodies.
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Mining.
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the side of a level or drift.
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the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.
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adjective
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of or relating to a wall.
wall space.
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growing against or on a wall.
wall plants;
wall cress.
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situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall.
wall oven;
a wall safe.
verb (used with object)
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walls,
present (3rd person singular)
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walled,
past participle, past
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walling
present participle
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to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often followed by in oroff ).
to wall the yard; to wall in the play area;
He is walled in by lack of opportunity.
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to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall.
to wall an unused entrance.
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to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually followed byup ).
The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.
- Synonyms:
- immure
idioms
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climb (the) walls, to become tense or frantic.
climbing the walls with boredom.
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up the wall, into an acutely frantic, frustrated, or irritated state.
The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.
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drive / push to the wall, to force into a desperate situation; humiliate or ruin completely.
Not content with merely winning the match, they used every opportunity to push the inferior team to the wall.
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off the wall,
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beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness.
The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.
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markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre.
Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.
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hit the wall, (of long-distance runners) to reach a point in a race, usually after 20 miles, when the body's fuels are virtually depleted and willpower becomes crucial to be able to finish.
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go to the wall,
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to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.
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to fail in business, especially to become bankrupt.
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to be put aside or forgotten.
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to take an extreme and determined position or measure.
I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.
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go over the wall, to break out of prison.
Roadblocks have been set up in an effort to capture several convicts who went over the wall.
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up against the wall,
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placed against a wall to be executed by a firing squad.
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in a crucial or critical position, especially one in which defeat or failure seems imminent.
Unless sales improve next month, the company will be up against the wall.
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noun
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a vertical construction made of stone, brick, wood, etc, with a length and height much greater than its thickness, used to enclose, divide, or support
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( as modifier )
wall hangings
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(often plural) a structure or rampart built to protect and surround a position or place for defensive purposes
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Technical name: paries. anatomy any lining, membrane, or investing part that encloses or bounds a bodily cavity or structure
abdominal wall
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mountaineering a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face
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anything that suggests a wall in function or effect
a wall of fire
a wall of prejudice
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to try to achieve something impossible
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to force into an awkward situation
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to be ruined; collapse financially
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slang to cause to become crazy or furious
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slang to become crazy or furious
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to be in a very difficult situation
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See off-the-wall
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See wall-to-wall
verb
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to protect, provide, or confine with or as if with a wall
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(often foll by up) to block (an opening) with a wall
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to seal by or within a wall or walls
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wallsimple
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wallssimple
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have walledperfect
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has walledperfect
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am wallingprogressive
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are wallingprogressive
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is wallingprogressive
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have been wallingperfect progressive
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has been wallingperfect progressive
Past
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walledsimple
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had walledperfect
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was wallingprogressive
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were wallingprogressive
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had been wallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wall
First recorded before 900; (for the noun) Middle English; Old English w(e)all, from Latin vallum “palisade,” derivative of vallus “stake, post”; see wale 1; verb derivative of the noun
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:
It would have been intriguing to be a fly on the wall in the directors' box at Anfield.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
But Báez made an over-the-shoulder catch a few steps from the wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Trying to rank her best songs, however, is where her unifying powers hit a wall.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
But Cook’s careful demand forecasting and supply-chain maneuvering has hit a wall with one technological development: artificial intelligence.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
But to my surprise, close against the wall of the dark alley, stood Kik.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Even the drama she injects into the chorus feels restrained, as that “wiry” voice slips and slides around notes, like icy wind through the walls of a mountain cabin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
In doing so, he managed to breach the walls of the city electronically and turn his invisible eye into the world’s gaze on the martyred city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Famous for its walls bearing scribbles and sketches left behind by patrons for over 60 years, El Batey, a bar in Old San Juan, is a Puerto Rican institution serving locals and tourists alike.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
On his walls, portraits of Kuwait's emir and crown prince hang alongside a plaque reading: "There is no place like the homeland, and no homeland like Kuwait."
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
The Mallons’ house was a black smudge in the fog, the stone walls sleeping, the worn path quiet as we tiptoed over it.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Saving in a tax-advantaged 529 means the contributed funds grow tax-free and are walled away from other regular family savings.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
The source of funding should be clear, obvious and walled off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
The osprey returned to the nest in a walled garden on 25 March, male 022 arrived the following day and the pair became settled.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
The dig revealed a walled complex that had remained largely undisturbed since Roman times.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026
The walled citadel of Saint-Malo blooms out of the distance.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
A. Prenups are no longer just for the ultrawealthy walling off family money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
America has prospered for centuries not by walling itself off but by attracting people who bring energy, ideas, and investment.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2025
Work crews followed them in, razing trees and greenery and walling off the space by double-stacking heavy metal cargo containers around the entire park perimeter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
In the 2030s, Norway responds to the various crises facing the planet by walling itself off from the rest of the world.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
Crawling in backwards, she piled the scooped-out chunks in the entrance hole, walling herself up in the freezing darkness.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
