wall
Americannoun
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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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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.
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From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 27, 2026
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From Barron's • Jun. 26, 2026
The model used by Wall Street to price trillions of dollars’ worth of derivatives thought of the financial world as an orderly, continuous process.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
