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ditch

noun · verb

Simple meaning

To deliberately not attend classes.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dich
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɪtʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage.

  2. Dirt (or grime) ingrained on the hands, or in cracks, crevices, etc.

  3. ireland

    A raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To deliberately not attend classes; to play hookey.

  2. Throw away

  3. To smear, daub, plaster, or impregnate, especially with dirt which becomes hard and ingrained.

  4. transitive

    To discard or abandon.

  5. transitive

    To dig ditches around.

  6. transitive

    To throw into a ditch.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (ambitransitive) To deliberately not attend classes; to play hookey.

Used this way, ditch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use ditch

  • “We had to swerve to avoid the car and ended up in the ditch.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Deliberately / make

irrigation ditchdry ditchditch attempt

Cut / trench

drainage ditch

Other combinations

last ditchdeep ditchditch effortbig ditch

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • ditch diggernounCompound term

    A laborer who digs ditches.

  • ditch fernnounCompound term

    Large deeply rooted fern of worldwide distribution with upright bipinnate compound tufted fronds.

  • ditch reednounCompound term

    Tall North American reed having relative wide leaves and large plumelike panicles.

  • ditch spadenounCompound term

    A spade with a long handle for digging narrow ditches.

  • drainage ditchnounCompound term

    A ditch for carrying off excess water or sewage.

  • irrigation ditchnounCompound term

    A ditch to supply dry land with water artificially.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.