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waited

verb

Form of wait , past tense of wait.

Simple meaning

To delay movement or action until some event or time.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

waytuhd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈweɪtəd

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.

verb

  1. past tense of waitintransitivestativeUS

    To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.

  2. past tense of wait

    To delay movement or action until some event or time; to remain neglected or in readiness.

  3. past tense of wait

    Wait before acting

  4. past tense of wait

    To remain faithful to one's partner or betrothed during a prolonged period of absence.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (intransitive, stative, US) To wait tables; to serve customers in a restaurant or other eating establishment.

Used this way, waited 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.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

waited patientlywaited outsidehaving waitedwaited impatiently

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • waitverbBase word

    Stay in one place and anticipate or expect something.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • waiternounPerson or profession

    A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant).

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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.