verb
wade
wayd
verb
1
To walk through water or another substance that slows you down.
"The children waded into the shallow end of the lake."
"We had to wade through deep snow to reach the cabin."
2
To push through something difficult or tedious, especially a large amount of work.
"She spent the afternoon wading through a stack of paperwork."
How to Use Wade
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo walk through something that resists you — water, mud, or a mountain of tasks.
Common pairings
wade into
wade through
wade across a river
Word Forms
waded past tense, wades plural, wades singular
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Etymology
From Old English "wadan" (to go or pass through), tracing back to a very old Indo-European root meaning simply "to go".