wedge

[ wej ]

/ wɛdʒ /

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See synonyms for: wedge / wedged / wedging on Thesaurus.com

noun

a piece of hard material with two principal faces meeting in a sharply acute angle, for raising, holding, or splitting objects by applying a pounding or driving force, as from a hammer.Compare machine (def. 3b).

a piece of anything of like shape: a wedge of pie.

a cuneiform character or stroke of this shape.

Meteorology. (formerly) an elongated area of relatively high pressure.

something that serves to part, split, divide, etc.: The quarrel drove a wedge into the party organization.

Military. (formerly) a tactical formation generally in the form of a V with the point toward the enemy.

Golf. a club with an iron head the face of which is nearly horizontal, for lofting the ball, especially out of sand traps and high grass.

Optics. optical wedge.

haček.

Chiefly Coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island. a hero sandwich.

a wedge heel or shoe with such a heel.

verb (used with object), wedged, wedg·ing.

to separate or split with or as if with a wedge (often followed by open, apart, etc.): to wedge open a log.

to insert or fix with a wedge.

to pack or fix tightly: to wedge clothes into a suitcase.

to thrust, drive, fix, etc., like a wedge: He wedged himself through the narrow opening.

Ceramics. to pound (clay) in order to remove air bubbles.

to fell or direct the fall of (a tree) by driving wedges into the cut made by the saw.

verb (used without object), wedged, wedg·ing.

to force a way like a wedge (usually followed by in, into, through, etc.): The box won't wedge into such a narrow space.

OTHER WORDS FOR wedge

14 cram, jam, stuff, crowd, squeeze.

See synonyms for wedge on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of wedge

before 900; Middle English wegge (noun), Old English wecg; cognate with dialectal German Weck (Old High German wecki), Old Norse veggr

regional variations of wedge

10. See hero sandwich.

OTHER WORDS FROM wedge

wedgelike, adjectiveun·wedge, verb (used with object), un·wedged, un·wedg·ing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use wedge in a sentence

I'm also afraid it will put a wedge between my husband and me, the last thing we need when we are all stuck at home all the time because of covid-19.
Carolyn Hax: Mother-in-law constantly demeans her|Carolyn Hax|November 11, 2020|Washington Post
Jewishness is being used as a wedge in other underrepresented communities too, often in more formal communication channels.
It’s 2020 and anti-Semitism is an electoral tactic again|Tate Ryan-Mosley|November 2, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Divide the fish and the tomatoes among the plates and serve with lemon wedges.
Turn cod into a swoon-worthy sheet-pan meal with herby, spicy bread crumbs|Ellie Krieger|October 29, 2020|Washington Post
A wedge of relatively lightly affected countries extends from Finland southwards to the northern Balkans.
A Million Deaths From Coronavirus: Seven Experts Consider Key Questions|LGBTQ-Editor|September 30, 2020|No Straight News

Sometimes you just want a wedge that will prop up your books while you read in bed, without having to worry about stubbing a finger or falling asleep near the hard corners and sharp surfaces of a traditional lap desk.
Convenient laptop stands with adjustable easels|PopSci Commerce Team|September 23, 2020|Popular-Science
“Oh God, that was so much fun,” Sheehy says, wedging a cookie between two heaping scoops of ice cream—dessert.
Gail Sheehy Books Passage to the Past|Lizzie Crocker|September 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Once the boat lurched mightily, and Myra gave a frightened cry, wedging the child between her knees.
Tess of the Storm Country|Grace Miller White
He found the hatchway too tight for comfort and had a moment of fear when his tool pack caught in the orifice, wedging him neatly.
Tight Squeeze|Dean Charles Ing
He replaced the bar which he had wrested from the window; wedging it into its socket with a morsel or two of molten lead.
The Long Night|Stanley Weyman
A very large chapter of American history hinges on this wedging apart of Southwest and Northwest.
The Old Northwest|Frederic Austin Ogg
The narrow rail is secured by wedging the tenons from the outside edge in the ordinary manner.
Woodwork Joints|William Fairham

British Dictionary definitions for wedge

wedge

/ (wɛdʒ) /

noun

a block of solid material, esp wood or metal, that is shaped like a narrow V in cross section and can be pushed or driven between two objects or parts of an object in order to split or secure them

any formation, structure, or substance in the shape of a wedgea wedge of cheese

something such as an idea, action, etc, that tends to cause division

a shoe with a wedge heel

golf a club with a face angle of more than 50°, used for bunker shots (sand wedge) or pitch shots (pitching wedge)

a wedge-shaped extension of the high pressure area of an anticyclone, narrower than a ridge

mountaineering a wedge-shaped device, formerly of wood, now usually of hollow steel, for hammering into a crack to provide an anchor point

any of the triangular characters used in cuneiform writing

(formerly) a body of troops formed in a V-shape

photog a strip of glass coated in such a way that it is clear at one end but becomes progressively more opaque towards the other end: used in making measurements of transmission density

British slang a bribe

thin end of the wedge anything unimportant in itself that implies the start of something much larger

verb

(tr) to secure with or as if with a wedge

to squeeze or be squeezed like a wedge into a narrow space

(tr) to force apart or divide with or as if with a wedge

Derived forms of wedge

wedgelike, adjectivewedgy, adjective

Word Origin for wedge

Old English wecg; related to Old Saxon weggi, Old High German wecki, Old Norse veggr wall

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with wedge

wedge

see thin edge of the wedge.

wedge

OTHER WORDS FOR wedge

Origin of wedge

regional variations of wedge

OTHER WORDS FROM wedge

Words related to wedge

How to use wedge in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wedge

Derived forms of wedge

Word Origin for wedge

Other Idioms and Phrases with wedge