a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.
one of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.
a division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients.
a convalescent ward; a critical ward.
any of the separate divisions of a prison.
a political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.
Mormon Church. one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.
Fortification. an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place.
the castle's lower ward.
Law.
a person, especially a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.
the state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.
guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing their own affairs.
the state of being under restraining guard or in custody.
a person who is under the protection or control of another.
a movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.
a curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.
the notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.
the act of keeping guard or protective watch.
watch and ward.
Archaic. a company of guards or a garrison.
(Aaron) Montgomery, 1843–1913, U.S. merchant and mail-order retailer.
Artemas 1727–1800, American general in the American Revolution.
Artemus Charles Farrar Browne, 1834–67, U.S. humorist.
Barbara Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914–81, English economist and author.
Mrs. Humphry Mary Augusta Arnold, 1851–1920, English novelist, born in Tasmania.
Sir Joseph George, 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman, born in Australia: prime minister of New Zealand 1906–12, 1928–30.
Lester Frank, 1841–1913, U.S. sociologist.
Nathaniel Theodore de la Guard, 1578?–1652, English clergyman, lawyer, and author in America.
a male given name.
(in many countries) a district into which a city, town, parish, or other area is divided for administration, election of representatives, etc
a room in a hospital, esp one for patients requiring similar kinds of care
a maternity ward
one of the divisions of a prison
an open space enclosed within the walls of a castle
law
Also called: ward of court. a person, esp a minor or one legally incapable of managing his own affairs, placed under the control or protection of a guardian or of a court
guardianship, as of a minor or legally incompetent person
the state of being under guard or in custody
a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another
a means of protection
an internal ridge or bar in a lock that prevents an incorrectly cut key from turning
a corresponding groove cut in a key
a less common word for warden 1
Dame Barbara ( Mary ), Baroness Jackson. 1914–81, British economist, environmentalist, and writer. Her books include Spaceship Earth (1966)
Mrs Humphry, married name of Mary Augusta Arnold. 1851–1920, English novelist. Her novels include Robert Elsmere (1888) and The Case of Richard Meynell (1911)
Sir Joseph George. 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman; prime minister of New Zealand (1906–12; 1928–30)
(forming adjectives) indicating direction towards
a backward step
heavenward progress
(forming adverbs) a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards
Both -ward and -wards occur in such words as backward, forward, upward, and toward. The -ward form is by far the more common in edited American English writing.
What does -ward mean? The suffix -ward is used to mean "in the direction of," either in time or space. It is often used in everyday and technical terms. The form -ward comes from Old English -weard, meaning “towards.”What are variants of -ward?The suffix -ward is more common in North American English. In British English, the variant -wards, as in towards, is more commonly used. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article on -wards.
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun warde, Old English weard; Middle English verb warde(n), Old English weardian; cognate with Middle Dutch waerden, German warten; cf. guard
Middle English; Old English -weard towards; cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin vertere to turn ( see verse)
A ward is a group of rooms or a section in a hospital or prison; in a hospital, different wards deal with different needs, like the psychiatric ward or maternity ward. Although ward is most often used in connection with hospitals and prisons, cities and towns can also be broken into wards. These are usually geographic areas that are used in elections: city council members often represent wards of the city. A ward is also the name given to a child who is watched over by someone other than his parents. Sometimes children are known as "wards of the state," meaning they have been taken from their homes.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A video taken shortly before her rescue showed Jackie sparring with two younger eagles, as she flipped on her back to ward them off with her talons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Homeowners spend thousands to ward off the pantry-raiding, toothpaste-sniffing beasts, exposing a rift among volunteer groups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
In “The Shift,” she compresses the challenge of an entire profession into a single 12-hour shift on a hospital cancer ward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
In 2024, a stillborn baby "remained in fridge for four days on the labour ward" and the failure to transfer her to the mortuary was only identified four days later.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
At the asylum he sought Antonapoulos first in the sick ward where he had been confined before.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Lyons thinks that Ward will be well received by investors due to his 30-year tenure at Macquarie, which has included leading its fast-growing retail banking business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Analyst Andrew Lyons tells clients in a note that the promotion of Greg Ward to CEO resolves longstanding succession uncertainty in the latter stages of Shemara Wikramanayake’s eight-year tenure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Bafta winner Ward, who is best known for the film Blue Story and Netflix series Top Boy, said: "Everything we did was wholly consensual."
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has said despite needing to use a wheelchair he is not "ill or giving up" and resolved to "keep rocking until I'm dead".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Still, I’d rather not have kids gawking at me all period, so I park myself in the back of the room and wait for Mr. Ward to call our English class to attention.
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
Names in -ward are rather numerous, and, as they mostly come from the titles of rural officials and are often confused with compounds of -herd, they are all put together here.
From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest
Some of the occupative names in -ward and -herd are rather deceptive.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest
As a suffix -wood is sometimes a corruption of -ward, e.g.
From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest
They work in rural clinics and hospital wards across the world, from small Caribbean islands to as far away as Italy, where poor, rural communities rely on Cuban doctors to offer basic health services.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Fewer people can also lead to fewer services, such as shops, maternity wards, and schools.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Everything clicked for the Beatles after the well-tailored Epstein convinced his wards to forsake Hamburg leather for matching suits in 1962.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
We break off our interview when we hear cries coming from one of the recovery wards, and Dr Saung must attend.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
“Ashton’s wards, eh? And what have these three moppets done with my Bertha? They took one of her plumes, see?”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
The men warded off thirst by sucking on buttons and kept warm by dipping their clothes into the bath-like sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Their agreement to testify warded off potential contempt-of-Congress proceedings against them.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
They were also revered as talismans that warded off evil spirits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2025
The drug, called lolamicin, also warded off secondary infections with Clostridioides difficile, a common and dangerous hospital-associated bacterial infection, and was effective against more than 130 multidrug-resistant bacterial strains in cell culture.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024
Montag warded him off and let his hands continue.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
Praised for warding off pests, so-called bodega cats are also a cultural fixture for New Yorkers, some of whom are now pushing to enshrine legal rights for the little store helpers.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
Nostalgia, though, is a peril that the author, an art historian at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, is bent on warding off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Part of rebirth is the bittersweet mastery of warding off misaligned energy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025
Social media–savvy psychologists and life coaches have created a cottage industry of warding off and healing from narcissists.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2025
He made the ancient sign of warding off evil - three fingers thrust out from the heart - and the ghost of Beryl Grace disappeared with a soft hiss, like a sigh of relief.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
