to walk in water, when partially immersed: He wasn't swimming, he was wading.
to play in water: The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.
to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement: to wade through the mud.
to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed by through): to wade through a dull book.
Obsolete. to go or proceed.
verb (used with object),wad·ed,wad·ing.
to pass through or cross by wading; ford: to wade a stream.
noun
an act or instance of wading: We went for a wade in the shallows.
Verb Phrases
wade in / into
to begin energetically.
to attack strongly: to wade into a thoughtless child; to wade into a mob of rioters.
Origin of wade
before 900; Middle English waden to go, wade, Old English wadan to go; cognate with German waten,Old Norse vatha; akin to Old English wæd ford, sea, Latin vadum shoal, ford, vādere to go, rush
The Big Three in Miami was a terror, but it’s easy to forget how out of sync James and Wade were offensively early on,15 as Bosh took time to settle into a tertiary role after being a No.
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There are no emails for us to wade through—even if we were champing at the bits.
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They were busily implementing these in cases like Roe v. Wade when a right-wing insurgency took them by surprise.
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To be sure, a more activist Supreme Court could still have decided to wade into the waters and decide this issue once and for all.
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In the eloquent words of colonial preacher John Winthrop, “When a man is to wade through deep water, there is required tallness.”
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Safechuck added his name to a suit originally filed by Wade Robson in May 2013.
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"I wonder what's in it," said Sue, as her brother and Harry prepared to wade out.
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He sneered this word every time he used it in his talk with Wade.
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Who to-day could wade through with children the good-goody books of that generation?
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If Wade had been seeking to provoke, he could have chosen no more unfortunate words.
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Only Wade would have been considered a "big" man by the average person, for the average man was over six feet tall.
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British Dictionary definitions for wade (1 of 2)
wade
/ (weɪd) /
verb
to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc)the girls waded the river at the ford
(intr often foll by through) to proceed with difficultyto wade through a book
(intr; foll by in or into)to attack energetically
noun
the act or an instance of wading
Derived forms of wade
wadableorwadeable, adjective
Word Origin for wade
Old English wadan; related to Old Frisian wada, Old High German watan, Old Norse vatha, Latin vadumford
British Dictionary definitions for wade (2 of 2)
Wade
/ (weɪd) /
noun
(Sarah) Virginia. born 1945, English tennis player; won three Grand Slam singles titles: US Open (1968), Australian Open (1972), and Wimbledon (1977)
bathe, trek, splash, stumble, paddle, attempt, toil, launch, initiate, attack, drudge, tackle, labor, walk, start, ford, fall to, go for, pitch in, jump in