Refine this word faster

Stronger alternatives Opposite tone Use in context Cross-language nuance

Wade

//weɪd// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A topographic surname from Old English.
  2. 2
    A male given name transferred from the surname.

    "In due time, Charles' son was born and, because it was fashionable to name boys after their fathers' commanding officers, he was called Wade Hampton Hamilton."

  3. 3
    A system of romanization for the Chinese language based on 19th-century Pekingese pronunciation, worked out by Thomas Wade.
  4. 4
    A number of places in the United States:; A town in Aroostook County, Maine.
  5. 5
    A number of places in the United States:; A census-designated place in Jackson County, Mississippi.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A number of places in the United States:; A town in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
  2. 7
    A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Washington County, Ohio.
  3. 8
    A number of places in the United States:; Two townships in Illinois, in Clinton County and Jasper County.
Noun
  1. 1
    An act of wading.

    "We had to be careful during our dangerous wade across the river."

  2. 2
    Obsolete form of woad. alt-of, obsolete, uncountable

    "Woad or Wade is a very rich Commodity"

  3. 3
    A ford; a place to cross a river. colloquial
Verb
  1. 1
    To walk through water or something that impedes progress. intransitive

    "So eagerly the fiend […] / With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies."

  2. 2
    walk (through relatively shallow water) wordnet
  3. 3
    To progress with difficulty. intransitive

    "to wade through a dull book"

  4. 4
    To walk through (water or similar impediment); to pass through by wading. transitive

    "wading swamps and rivers"

  5. 5
    To gleam intermittently through clouds or mist.

    "I saw my Meg come linking o'er the lee; I saw my Meg, but Maggy saw nae me: For yet the sun was wading through the mist, And she was close upon me ere she wist."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To enter recklessly. intransitive

    "to wade into a fight or a debate"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English waden, from Old English wadan, from Proto-West Germanic *wadan, from Proto-Germanic *wadaną (“to go, pass through”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian waadje (“to wade”), West Frisian wâdzje (“to wade”), Dutch waden (“to wade”), German Low German waden (“to wade”), German waten (“to wade”), Danish vade (“to wade”), Swedish vada (“to wade”), Icelandic vaða (“to wade”), and Latin vādō (“go, walk; rush”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English waden, from Old English wadan, from Proto-West Germanic *wadan, from Proto-Germanic *wadaną (“to go, pass through”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian waadje (“to wade”), West Frisian wâdzje (“to wade”), Dutch waden (“to wade”), German Low German waden (“to wade”), German waten (“to wade”), Danish vade (“to wade”), Swedish vada (“to wade”), Icelandic vaða (“to wade”), and Latin vādō (“go, walk; rush”).

Etymology 3

From Old English wæd (“a ford”).

See also for "wade"

Synonyms Antonyms Rhymes Sentences Translate Word Type Pronunciation Word Forms

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciation

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: wade