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walk

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Use one's feet to advance.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wawk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɔk

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. Use one's feet to advance; advance by steps

  2. intransitive

    To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.

  3. intransitivecolloquialeuphemistic

    Of an object, to go missing or be stolen.

  4. intransitivecolloquiallaw

    To "walk free", i.e. to win, or avoid, a criminal court case, particularly when actually guilty.

  5. intransitive

    Of an object or machine, to move by shifting between two positions, as if it were walking.

  6. Accompany or escort

noun

  1. A manner of walking; a person's style of walking.

  2. A path, sidewalk/pavement or other maintained place on which to walk.

  3. figurative

    A person's conduct or course in life.

  4. In coffee, coconut, and other plantations, the space between them.

  5. A trip made by walking.

  6. A distance walked.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.

Used this way, walk 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 walk

  • “The horses walked across the meadow.”verb
  • “The lovers held hands while walking.”verb
  • “Walking is a healthy form of exercise.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

walk throughwalk awaywalk backwalk along

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • walkingnounInflected form

    The act of traveling by foot.

  • walkernounInflected form

    New Zealand runner who in 1975 became the first person to run a mile in less that 3 minutes and 50 seconds (born in 1952).

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • walk on airverbCompound term

    Feel extreme happiness or elation.

  • walk outverbCompound term

    Stop work in order to press demands.

  • walk oververbCompound term

    Beat easily.

  • walk-throughnounCompound term

    A thorough explanation (usually accompanied by a demonstration) of each step in a procedure or process.

  • walk-upnounCompound term

    An apartment in a building without an elevator.

  • walk-up apartmentnounCompound term

    An apartment in a building without an elevator.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • walkwaynounRelated term

    A path set aside for walking.

  • walkaboutnounRelated term

    A walking trip or tour.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: use one's feet to advance

pass

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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.