warded

American

[wawr-did] / ˈwɔr dɪd /

adjective

having notches, slots, or wards, as in locks and keys.

warded British

/ ˈwɔːdɪd /

adjective

(of locks, keys, etc) having wards

"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

Etymology

Origin of warded

1565–75; ward (noun) + -ed ³

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.

Some actual Buffetts have warded off comparisons to Berkshire’s chairman.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

They were also revered as talismans that warded off evil spirits.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2025

Another widely-circulated post was written by a person who said their mother was badly injured in the attack and was currently warded in a hospital's intensive care unit.

From BBC • Nov. 13, 2024

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023