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• ward
  ward

  noun

  a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.
• Ward
  Ward

  noun

  (Aaron) Montgomery, 1843–1913, U.S. merchant and mail-order retailer.
• -ward
  -ward

  a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element.

ward

¹ American  

[wawrd] / wɔrd /

noun

• wards
  plural

1. a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.

   Synonyms:

   precinct

2. one of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.

3. a division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients.

   a convalescent ward; a critical ward.

4. any of the separate divisions of a prison.

5. a political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.

6. Mormon Church. one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.

7. Fortification. an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place.

   the castle's lower ward.

8. Law.

   1. a person, especially a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.

   2. the state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.

   3. guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing their own affairs.

9. the state of being under restraining guard or in custody.

10. a person who is under the protection or control of another.

    Synonyms:

    protégé

11. a movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.

12. a curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.

13. the notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.

14. the act of keeping guard or protective watch.

    watch and ward.

15. Archaic. a company of guards or a garrison.

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verb (used with object)

• wards,
  present (3rd person singular)
• warded,
  past participle,  past
• warding
  present participle

1. to avert, repel, or turn aside (danger, harm, an attack, an assailant, etc.) (usually followed byoff ).

   to ward off a blow; to ward off evil.

   Synonyms:

   prevent, parry

2. to place in a ward, as of a hospital or prison.

3. Archaic. to protect; guard.

Ward ² American  

[wawrd] / wɔrd /

noun

1. (Aaron) Montgomery, 1843–1913, U.S. merchant and mail-order retailer.

2. Artemas 1727–1800, American general in the American Revolution.

3. Artemus Charles Farrar Browne, 1834–67, U.S. humorist.

4. Barbara Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914–81, English economist and author.

5. Mrs. Humphry Mary Augusta Arnold, 1851–1920, English novelist, born in Tasmania.

6. Sir Joseph George, 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman, born in Australia: prime minister of New Zealand 1906–12, 1928–30.

7. Lester Frank, 1841–1913, U.S. sociologist.

8. Nathaniel Theodore de la Guard, 1578?–1652, English clergyman, lawyer, and author in America.

9. a male given name.

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-ward ³ American  

1. a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element.

   toward; seaward; afterward; backward.

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ward ¹ British  

/ wɔːd /

noun

1. (in many countries) a district into which a city, town, parish, or other area is divided for administration, election of representatives, etc

2. a room in a hospital, esp one for patients requiring similar kinds of care

   a maternity ward

3. one of the divisions of a prison

4. an open space enclosed within the walls of a castle

5. law

   1. 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

   2. guardianship, as of a minor or legally incompetent person

6. the state of being under guard or in custody

7. a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another

8. a means of protection

9. 1. an internal ridge or bar in a lock that prevents an incorrectly cut key from turning

   2. a corresponding groove cut in a key

10. a less common word for warden 1

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verb

1. archaic (tr) to guard or protect

Ward ² British  

/ wɔːd /

noun

1. Dame Barbara ( Mary ), Baroness Jackson. 1914–81, British economist, environmentalist, and writer. Her books include Spaceship Earth (1966)

2. 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)

3. Sir Joseph George. 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman; prime minister of New Zealand (1906–12; 1928–30)

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-ward ³ British  

suffix

1. (forming adjectives) indicating direction towards

   a backward step

   heavenward progress

2. (forming adverbs) a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards

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Spelling

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.

Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• wardless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wards
  plural

Participles

• warding
  present
• warded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ward
  simple
• wards
  simple
• have warded
  perfect
• has warded
  perfect
• am warding
  progressive
• are warding
  progressive
• is warding
  progressive
• have been warding
  perfect progressive
• has been warding
  perfect progressive

Past

• warded
  simple
• had warded
  perfect
• was warding
  progressive
• were warding
  progressive
• had been warding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ward
  simple
• will have warded
  perfect
• will be warding
  progressive
• will have been warding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of ward¹

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

Origin of -ward³

Middle English; Old English -weard towards; cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin vertere to turn ( see verse)

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ward Ward -ward wards warded warding

France can claim modest progress in negating employment regulations that disincentivize hiring, turning every worker into a ward for life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

A generation ago, nurses might have worked in a ward of patients recovering from routine surgeries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, was elected to the Shard End ward on Birmingham City Council in May.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The member of the Cardiff Council cabinet and Llanrumney ward councillor said in a letter it was "hard to reconcile" the centre's emissions "with Cardiff's climate emergency declaration and Planning Policy Wales".

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Singer hastened to put things right, but Antonapoulos frowned and held up his finger regally to a nurse who was passing through the ward.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Francisco Rodriguez Aguilar, 37, of West Covina and Richard Evan Ward II, 45, of Oceanside were charged with two counts each.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

After his plight was raised on social media by his daughter, Ward said several people had been in touch to say they faced similar issues getting blue badges renewed.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

While the area may not have been his favorite, the Brolins certainly made the home their own, tapping celebrated interior design studio, Pierce and Ward, to decorate it with a traditional, baronial aesthetic.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

Founded in 1989 by Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward, Chesapeake became proficient at fracking for natural gas and in the 2000s grew at breakneck speed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

I don’t know who was prouder, us or Mr. Ward.

From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes

As a suffix -wood is sometimes a corruption of -ward, e.g.

From The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley

Some of the occupative names in -ward and -herd are rather deceptive.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

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 Ernest Weekley

Now Kenyans are nervously waiting to see whether they acted in time—or whether Ebola will emerge outside of Nairobi’s quarantine wards and spread through the city of 5.6 million.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

The disdain in her eyes wards off anyone from seeing weakness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Councillors would be elected to the existing wards across Scotland and serve on both the local and regional authorities.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

The coroner said, "despite assurances" from the Trust in numerous action plans", the inquest had "revealed widespread concerns" about how observations were carried out across two wards."

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

“Do not listen, little future person! Behaving like a wild animal is all very well for your father’s wolfish wards, but it will never do for the heir to this great estate!”

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

But her supporters argue that only a street fighter like her could have ended Communist rule in the state and, until this week, warded off a determined BJP attempt to oust her party from power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 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

He neither welcomed it, nor warded it off.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

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

The subsidy-fueled gold rush emboldened unions to squeeze producers, warding off studios looking for inexpensive film locations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

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

Obie was grateful when Archie finally shook his head as if warding off an evil spell.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

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Related Words

• department
• parish
• precinct

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