to marry (another person) in a formal ceremony.
to unite (a couple) in marriage or wedlock; marry.
to bind by close or lasting ties; attach firmly.
She wedded herself to the cause of economic justice.
to blend together or unite inseparably.
a novel that weds style and content perfectly.
to contract marriage; marry.
to become united or to blend.
a building that will wed with the landscape.
contraction of we had:
Sometimes I wish we'd bought a bigger house.
contraction of we would:
Of course we'd be happy to donate to the school's fundraiser.
to take (a person of the opposite sex) as a husband or wife; marry
(tr) to join (two people) in matrimony
(tr) to unite closely
See contraction.
First recorded before 900; Middle English wedde, Old English weddian “to pledge, marry, get married”; cognate with German wetten “to bet,” Old Norse vethja “to pledge”
To wed is to get married to someone. Your dream might be to wed your dream spouse in Hawaii some day. The verb wed is mainly used in a formal context — marry is more common. You can also use either word to mean "join in marriage" or "perform a marriage ceremony," like when the Archbishop of Canterbury weds members of British royalty. Wed shares a Germanic root with words in various languages meaning "pledge," but also "bet or wager."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before being snapped up by the spouses, who wed in 2015, the home—which is located in the Hill Country—had been on the market for just $685,000, having initially been listed for $849,000 in January 2015.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
He attributes much of that bliss to his marriage to Schmidt, an art curator, writer and photographer whom he wed in 2017.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2026
James Deaver, Brent’s executor, said Brent rejected the request as excessive because hehad amassed the bulk of his fortune years before the couple wed.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
A bride wed in a dressing gown, slippers and hair rollers so her new husband could see how married life was going to be.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
Those chronicles describe how the sun goddess Amaterasu, born from the left eye of the creator god Izanagi, sent her grandson Ninigi to earth on the Japanese island of Kyushu to wed an earthly deity.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
