# wade

/ˈweɪd/ (US) · /wˈeɪd/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/wade
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. to walk through water

verb · CEFR B2

to walk through water that is deep enough to make moving difficult but not deep enough for swimming.

For teachers: to walk through water or another liquid that impedes free movement. Often used intransitively or with the preposition 'through'.

- We had to wade across the shallow stream to reach the hiking trail.
- The researchers had to wade through the marshy wetlands for hours to collect water samples from the remote interior pools.

### 2. to progress with difficulty

verb · CEFR C1 · Informal

to spend a lot of time and effort reading or dealing with something long and boring.

For teachers: to progress through a task, text, or situation with significant effort or difficulty. Figurative extension of the physical sense.

- It took me all weekend to wade through that long legal report.
- The committee spent the entire afternoon trying to wade through the hundreds of public comments submitted regarding the new zoning laws.

### 3. to enter recklessly

verb · CEFR C2 · Informal · British English

to start doing something or join a fight without thinking carefully first.

For teachers: to intervene or attack vigorously and often without hesitation or caution. Usually followed by 'in' or 'into'.

- Before I could explain, he waded in with his own angry opinions.
- The politician waded into the debate with a series of controversial statements that immediately polarized the audience.

### 4. an act of wading

noun · CEFR B2

a walk through water.

For teachers: the act of walking through water or a similar substance.

- After a long wade through the flooded field, my boots were ruined.
- The short wade across the creek was refreshing after a day of trekking in the summer heat.

## Examples

- The children love to wade in the shallow pool.
- We had to wade through the flooded street to reach the dry sidewalk on the other side.
- The researcher spent months having to wade through thousands of archived documents to find a single mention of the lost ship's manifest.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.