Fetch

/fɛt͡ʃ/ intj, noun, verb

intj, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.
  • Grammar: fetch is listed as intj, noun, verb.
  • Nearest alternatives: accomplish, achieve, afford, amount to.
  • Useful contrasts: abandonment, delete, devalue.
  • Usage evidence: Shall I fetch your glasses from the living room, Dad?

How to use "fetch"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "fetch" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "fetch" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "fetch" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "fetch" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "fetch" is acting as intj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "accomplish" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "fetch", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance. also, figuratively
  2. 2
    The apparition of a living person; a person's double, the sight of which is supposedly a sign that they are fated to die soon, a doppelganger; a wraith (“a person's likeness seen just after their death; a ghost, a spectre”). dialectal

    "In these dilapidated articles of dress she had, on principle, arrayed herself, time out of mind, on such occasions as the present; for this at once expressed a decent amount of veneration for the deceased, and invited the next of kin to present her with a fresher set of weeds: an appeal so frequently successful, that the very fetch and ghost of Mrs. Gamp, bonnet and all, might be seen hanging up, at any hour of the day, in at least a dozen of the second-hand clothes shops around Holborn."

  3. 3
    the action of fetching wordnet
  4. 4
    An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.; An act of fetching data. also, figuratively, specifically

    "a fetch from a cache"

  5. 5
    The object of fetching; the source of an attraction; a force, propensity, or quality which attracts.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    An area over which wind is blowing (over water) and generating waves.

    "When a fetch is close to land, this variability will alter anticipated wind directions and velocities."

  2. 7
    The length of such an area; the distance a wave can travel across a body of water (without obstruction).

    "From recently completed radar maps of the Brazilian Amazon I determined the shape, maximum fetch and width and orientation of all the lakes greater than 100 meters across in the floodplain […]"

  3. 8
    A stratagem or trick; an artifice.

    "They used cunning fetches to swindle money out of the gullible."

  4. 9
    A game played with a dog in which a person throws an object for the dog to retrieve. uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To retrieve; to bear towards; to go and get. ditransitive, transitive

    "You have to fetch some sugar in order to proceed with the recipe."

  2. 2
    go or come after and bring or take back wordnet
  3. 3
    To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for. transitive

    "Our native horses[…] were held in small esteem, and fetched low prices."

  4. 4
    take someone to hell wordnet
  5. 5
    To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.

    "to fetch headway or sternway"

Show 8 more definitions
  1. 6
    be sold for a certain price wordnet
  2. 7
    To bring oneself; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward. intransitive
  3. 8
    To take (a breath); to heave (a sigh). literary, rare, transitive

    "The hurt nigger moaned feebly somewhere near by, and then fetched a deep sigh that made me mend my pace away from there."

  4. 9
    To cause to come; to bring to a particular state. transitive

    "They couldn't fetch the butter in the churn."

  5. 10
    To recall from a swoon; to revive; sometimes with to. obsolete, transitive

    "to fetch a man to"

  6. 11
    To reduce; to throw. transitive

    "The sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground."

  7. 12
    To accomplish; to achieve; to perform, with certain objects or actions. archaic, transitive

    "to fetch a compass;  to fetch a leap"

  8. 13
    To make (a pump) draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle. transitive
Intj
  1. 1
    Minced oath for fuck.

Synonyms

All synonyms
accomplishachieveaffordamount toappealapproach

Example

"Shall I fetch your glasses from the living room, Dad?"

Common questions

What does "fetch" mean?

An act of fetching, of bringing something from a distance.

What is a synonym for "fetch"?

Common synonyms include: accomplish, achieve, afford, amount to, appeal, approach.

How do you use "fetch" in a sentence?

Shall I fetch your glasses from the living room, Dad?

How do you pronounce "fetch"?

Pronounced /fɛt͡ʃ/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Middle English fecchen (“to get and bring back, fetch; to come for, get and take away; to steal; to carry away to kill; to search for; to obtain, procure”) [and other forms], from Old English feċċan, fæċċan, feccean (“to fetch, bring; to draw; to gain, take; to seek”), a variant of fetian, fatian (“to bring near, fetch; to acquire, obtain; to bring on, induce; to fetch a wife, marry”) and possibly related to Old English facian, fācian (“to acquire, obtain; to try to obtain; to get; to get to, reach”), both from Proto-Germanic *fatōną, *fatjaną (“to hold, seize; to fetch”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). The English word is cognate with Dutch vatten (“to apprehend, catch; to grasp; to understand”), German fassen (“to catch, grasp; to capture, seize”), English fet (“(obsolete) to fetch”), Faroese fata (“to grasp, understand”), Danish fatte (“to grasp, understand”), Swedish fatta (“to grasp, understand”), Icelandic feta (“to go, step”), West Frisian fetsje (“to grasp”). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 2

Uncertain; the following possibilities have been suggested: * From fetch-life (“(obsolete, rare) a deity, spirit, etc., who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife; a psychopomp”). * From the supposed Old English *fæcce (“evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare”). * From Old Irish fáith (“seer, soothsayer”).

More for "fetch"

Synonyms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsBrowse writing guidesExplore topic clusters