VocabauraVOCABAURA

watched

verb

Form of watch , past tense of watch.

Simple meaning

To observe over a period of time.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wahcht
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɑtʃt

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 watch

    To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.

    “They watched as the murderer was executed.”

  2. past tense of watchambitransitive

    To look at, see, or view for a period of time.

  3. past tense of watch

    Look attentively

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.

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

Heard in a sentence
“They watched as the murderer was executed.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
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 watched

  • “They watched as the murderer was executed.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

carefully watchedclosely watched

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • watchverbBase word

    Look attentively.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • watchernounPerson or profession

    A close observer.

  • watchfuladjectiveDerived adjective

    Engaged in or accustomed to close observation.

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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.