trek
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
A slow or difficult journey.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
trehkIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɹɛk
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A slow or difficult journey.
Any long and difficult trip
A long walk.
A popular sci-fi media franchise set in the future, primarily focusing on the adventures of the personnel of a space navy of an interstellar political federation of which Earth is a charter member.
South Africa
A journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group of settlers)
south africa
The Boer migration of 1835–1837.
verb
Make a long and difficult journey
“They trekked towards the North Pole with sleds and skis.”
intransitive
To make a slow or arduous journey.
Journey on foot, especially in the mountains
“We spent the summer trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas.”
south africa
To travel by ox wagon.
adjective
Futuristic, particularly with respect to things similar in appearance or effect to technology in the Star Trek franchise.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A slow or difficult journey.
Used this way, trek 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
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Makeverb
“They trekked towards the North Pole with sleds and skis.”
Journeyverb
“We spent the summer trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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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.