wall

[ wawl ]

/ wɔl /

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See synonyms for: wall / walled / walling / walls on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

Usually walls. a rampart raised for defensive purposes.

an immaterial or intangible barrier, obstruction, etc., suggesting a wall: a wall of prejudice.

a wall-like, enclosing part, thing, mass, etc.: a wall of fire; a wall of troops.

an embankment to prevent flooding, as a levee or sea wall.

the outermost film or layer of structural material protecting, surrounding, and defining the physical limits of an object: the wall of a blood cell.

Soccer. a line of defenders standing shoulder to shoulder in an attempt to block a free kick with their bodies.

Mining.

the side of a level or drift.
the overhanging or underlying side of a vein; a hanging wall or footwall.

adjective

of or relating to a wall: wall space.

growing against or on a wall: wall plants; wall cress.

situated, placed, or installed in or on a wall: wall oven; a wall safe.

verb (used with object)

to enclose, shut off, divide, protect, border, etc., with or as if with a wall (often followed by in or off): to wall the yard; to wall in the play area; He is walled in by lack of opportunity.

to seal or fill (a doorway or other opening) with a wall: to wall an unused entrance.

to seal or entomb (something or someone) within a wall (usually followed by up): The workmen had walled up the cat quite by mistake.

OTHER WORDS FOR wall

2 battlement, breastwork, bulwark, barrier, bastion.

5 dike.

14 immure.

See synonyms for wall on Thesaurus.com

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Idioms about wall

climb (the) walls, Slang. to become tense or frantic: climbing the walls with boredom.

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.

go over the wall, Slang. to break out of prison: Roadblocks have been set up in an effort to capture several convicts who went over the wall.

go to the wall,

to be defeated in a conflict or competition; yield.
to fail in business, especially to become bankrupt.
to be put aside or forgotten.
to take an extreme and determined position or measure: I'd go to the wall to stop him from resigning.

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.

off the wall, Slang.

beyond the realm of acceptability or reasonableness: The figure you quoted for doing the work is off the wall.
markedly out of the ordinary; eccentric; bizarre: Some of the clothes in the fashion show were too off the wall for the average customer.

up against the wall,

placed against a wall to be executed by a firing squad.
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.

up the wall, Slang. into an acutely frantic, frustrated, or irritated state: The constant tension in the office is driving everyone up the wall.

Origin of wall

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English w(e)all<Latin vallum palisade, derivative of vallus stake, post; see wale¹; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun

OTHER WORDS FROM wall

wall-less, adjectivewall-like, adjectiveun·wall, verb (used with object)

Words nearby wall

walk-up, Walküre, Die, walkway, Walkyrie, walky-talky, wall, wallaba, wallaby, Wallace, Wallaceburg, Wallace, George

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use wall in a sentence

Mount them on the wall in your kiddo’s bedroom, or build a backyard climbing wall like this one.
A 15-Week Exercise Plan for Kids and Families|Krista Langlois|September 12, 2020|Outside Online
Drone imagery alone can’t establish whether rituals occurred at the buried earthwork or if, perhaps, non-combatants hid behind walls along its borders when the site was attacked.
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture|Bruce Bower|September 10, 2020|Science News
This universal wall offers a lifetime’s worth of routes, from V4 to V14, on an eight-by-twelve-foot surface.
The Most Futuristic Workout Gear of 2020|Hayden Carpenter|September 5, 2020|Outside Online
Recently, the actor let down his walls a bit to tell the story of how he met his wife, Tomasina Tate, 20 years ago—a fate made possible by fellow actor Jamie Foxx.
Larenz Tate Reveals How Jamie Foxx Helped Him Meet His Wife Tomasina|Hope Wright|September 4, 2020|Essence.com

Ocean Spray isn’t the only legacy brand looking to build out new brands within its walls.
‘We have to be open to failure’: Why Ocean Spray launched a brand incubator for the DTC era|Kristina Monllos|September 1, 2020|Digiday
A Wall Street person should not be allowed to help oversee the Dodd-Frank reforms.
Antonio Weiss Is Not Part of the Problem|Steve Rattner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was a brick wall that we turned into the on-ramp of a highway.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It reminded me a bit of an alternative take on The Wolf of Wall Street—through the Toni and Candace lens.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Marvin hops over the edge of his retaining wall, which he built.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He scrambled outside to find a 25-foot-wide crater just beyond the mud wall surrounding his family compound.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan|Umar Farooq|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A flash of surprise and pleasure lit the fine eyes of the haughty beauty perched up there on the palace wall.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Kind of a reception-room in there—guess I know a reception-room from a hole in the wall.
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
Distance, the uncertain light, and imagination, magnified it to a high wall; high as the wall of China.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
He leant against the wall of his refuge, notwithstanding this boast, and licked the ice to moisten his parched lips.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
A little boy aged two years and four months was deprived of a pencil from Thursday to Sunday for scribbling on the wall-paper.
Children's Ways|James Sully

British Dictionary definitions for wall

wall

/ (wɔːl) /

noun

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
(as modifier)wall hangings Related adjective: mural

(often plural) a structure or rampart built to protect and surround a position or place for defensive purposes

anatomy any lining, membrane, or investing part that encloses or bounds a bodily cavity or structureabdominal wall Technical name: paries Related adjective: parietal

mountaineering a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face

anything that suggests a wall in function or effecta wall of fire; a wall of prejudice

bang one's head against a brick wall to try to achieve something impossible

drive to the wall or push to the wall to force into an awkward situation

go to the wall to be ruined; collapse financially

drive up the wall slang to cause to become crazy or furious

go up the wall slang to become crazy or furious

have one's back to the wall to be in a very difficult situation

See off-the-wall

See wall-to-wall

verb (tr)

to protect, provide, or confine with or as if with a wall

(often foll by up) to block (an opening) with a wall

(often foll by in or up) to seal by or within a wall or walls

Derived forms of wall

walled, adjectivewall-less, adjectivewall-like, adjective

Word Origin for wall

Old English weall, from Latin vallum palisade, from vallus stake

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with wall

wall

In addition to the idioms beginning with wall

walls have ears, the

also see:

back to the wall
beat one's head against the wall
between you and me and the lamppost (four walls)
climb the walls
drive someone crazy (up the wall)
fly on the wall
go to the wall
handwriting on the wall
hole in the wall
off the wall
run into a stone wall

wall

OTHER WORDS FOR wall

Idioms about wall

Origin of wall

OTHER WORDS FROM wall

Words nearby wall

Words related to wall

How to use wall in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wall

Derived forms of wall

Word Origin for wall

Other Idioms and Phrases with wall