Word.ws English Dictionary

bridge

/bɹɪd͡ʒ/

bridge noun: a construction spanning a waterway, ravine, or valley from a height, allowing for the passage of vehicles, pedestrians, trains, etc.

bridge: a construction or natural feature that spans a divide
Image: Kerim Burak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bridge (plural bridges)

  1. A construction spanning a waterway, ravine, or valley from a height, allowing for the passage of vehicles, pedestrians, trains, etc.
    • The rope bridge crosses the river.
    • It was a beautiful view from the Brooklyn Bridge.
  2. The upper bony ridge of the human nose.
    • Rugby players often break the bridge of their noses.
  3. A prosthesis replacing one or several adjacent teeth.
    • The dentist pulled out the decayed tooth and put in a bridge.
  4. The gap between the holes on a bowling ball
  5. An elevated platform above the upper deck of a mechanically propelled ship from which it is navigated and from which all activities on deck can be seen and controlled by the captain, etc; smaller ships have a wheelhouse, and sailing ships were controlled from a quarterdeck.
    • The first officer is on the bridge.
  6. The piece, on string instruments, that supports the strings from the sounding board.
  7. A particular form of one hand placed on the table to support the cue when making a shot in cue sports.
  8. A cue modified with a convex arch-shaped notched head attached to the narrow end, used to support a player's (shooter's) cue for extended or tedious shots. Also called a spider.
  9. Anything supported at the ends and serving to keep some other thing from resting upon the object spanned, as in engraving, watchmaking, etc., or which forms a platform or staging over which something passes or is conveyed.
  10. A defensive position in which the wrestler is supported by his feet and head, belly-up, in order to prevent touch-down of the shoulders and eventually to dislodge an opponent who has established a position on top.
  11. A similar position in gymnastics.
  12. A connection, real or abstract.
    • Yes, France is geographically situated in a key position so far as Western Europe is concerned. They are really the bridge between Germany, Spain and Italy. And it was necessary to have a NATO organization that was unified and France was a necessary member of that organization.1964, Harry S. Truman, 0:18 from the start, in MP2002-479 Former President Truman Recalls Negotiating With DeGaulle and France after WWII, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National...
    1. A rudimentary procedure before definite solution
      • ECMO is used as a bridge to surgery to stabilize the patient.
    2. A device which connects two or more computer buses, typically in a transparent manner.
      • This chip is the bridge between the front-side bus and the I/O bus.
    3. A software component connecting two or more separate systems.
      • The plugin also acts as a bridge with BuddyPress and adds things like the top admin bar, and so on.2011, Thord Daniel Hedengren, Smashing WordPress Themes: Making WordPress Beautiful
    4. A system which connects two or more local area networks at layer 2 of OSI model.
      • The LAN bridge uses a spanning tree algorithm.
    5. (physical) An intramolecular valence bond, atom or chain of atoms that connects two different parts of a molecule; the atoms so connected being bridgeheads.
    6. An unintended solder connection between two or more components or pins.
    7. A contrasting section within a song that prepares for the return of the original material section.
      • The lyrics in the song's bridge inverted its meaning.
      • In the bridge of his 2011 song "It Will Rain", Bruno Mars begs his lover not to "say goodbye."
    8. An edge which, if removed, changes a connected graph to one that is not connected.
    9. A point in a line where a break in a word unit cannot occur.
    10. A statement, such as an offer, that signals a possibility of accord.
    11. A day falling between two public holidays and consequently designated as an additional holiday.
    12. In turtles, the connection between the plastron and the carapace.
    13. The part of a pair of glasses that connects the lenses.
Show 6 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. Any of several electrical devices that measure characteristics such as impedance and inductance by balancing different parts of a circuit
  2. A low wall or vertical partition in the fire chamber of a furnace, for deflecting flame, etc.; a bridge wall.
  3. The situation where a lone rider or small group of riders closes the space between them and the rider or group in front.
  4. A solid crust of undissolved salt in a water softener.
  5. (roller derby) An elongated chain of teammates, connected to the pack, for improved blocking potential.
  6. A form of cheating by which a card is cut by previously curving it by pressure of the hand.
    • see for the card game of contract bridge.

Verb

bridge (third-person singular simple present bridges, present participle bridging, simple past and past participle bridged)

  1. To be or make a bridge over something.
    • With enough cable, we can bridge this gorge.
    • On this occasion, the damage was far more serious. The sea wall was breached completely for a distance of over 50 yd., and the gap had to be bridged by a temporary timber viaduct.1947 January and February, H. A. Vallance, “The Sea Wall at Dawlish”, in Railway Magazine, page 18
  2. To span as if with a bridge.
    • The two groups were able to bridge their differences.
    • Before another word was spoken Inspector Beedel had appeared, and the grip of bone and muscle on the straining wrists was changed to one of steel. Less than thirty seconds bridged the whole astonishing transformation.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
  3. To transition from one piece or section of music to another without stopping.
    • We need to bridge that jam into "The Eleven".
  4. To connect two or more computer buses, networks etc. with a bridge.
  5. To go to the bridge position.
  6. (roller derby) To employ the bridge tactic. (See Noun section.)

Noun (2)

bridge (uncountable)

  1. Any of a certain family of trick-taking card games.
    • Bidding is an essential element of the game of bridge.
    1. (usually) A card game played with four players playing as two teams of two players each.
      • She played in a bridge tournament in Las Vegas last year.

Proper noun capitalized: Bridge

Bridge

  1. An occupational surname for a bridgekeeper
  2. A habitational surname for someone living near a bridge or at a location called Bridge or Bridges
  3. A toponymic surname for someone from Bruges
  4. (alternative) Alternative form of Bridgen.
  5. (alternative) Alternative form of Bridges.
  6. A village and civil parish in Canterbury district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR1854). Recorded as Brige in 1086 (DB), from Old English brycg.
  7. An unincorporated community in Coos County, Oregon, United States, named for a river bridge.

bridge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bridge in Hindi

construction or natural feature that spans a divide
सेतु setu, पुल pul
(music, lutherie) piece on string instruments
जवारी javārī

bridge in Tamil

construction or natural feature that spans a divide
பாலம் pālam

bridge in Marathi

construction or natural feature that spans a divide
पूल pūl, सेतू setū

bridge in Urdu

construction or natural feature that spans a divide
پُل pul
More languagesFewer languages
bridge in Bengali
পুল pul
bridge in Telugu
వంతెన vantena, వారధి vāradhi, సేతువు sētuvu
bridge in Malayalam
പാലം pālaṁ
bridge in Kannada
ಸೇತುವೆ sētuve
bridge in Punjabi
ਪੁਲ pul, پُل pul
bridge in Gujarati
પુલ pul
bridge in Odia
ପୋଲ pola
bridge in Sanskrit
सेतु setu
bridge in Sinhala
පාලම pālama
bridge in Assamese
দলং doloṅ, সাঁকো xãkü
bridge in Nepali
पुल pul
bridge in Pashto
پل pul
bridge in Tagalog
tulay, balingos, balingusan
bridge in Arabic
جِسْر jisr, قَنْطَرَة qanṭara, كوبري kōbrī, جسر jisir
bridge in Malay
jambatan, jambat, titi, titian
bridge in Indonesian
jembatan
bridge in Persian
پُل pul, خَرَک xarak
bridge in Thai
สะพาน sà-paan, ขัว kǔua, ดั้ง dâng, หย่อง yɔ̀ng
bridge in Vietnamese
cầu, bắc cầu, cầu nối, bắt ngang
bridge in Myanmar
တံတား tamta:, မြင်းမိုရ် mrang:muir
Sindhi
پُلِ puli
Dhivehi
ފާލަން fālan̊
Kashmiri
کٔدٕل kạdụl

Examples of bridge in a sentence

  • The building of the bridge will be completed in a couple of weeks.
  • The swinging bridge is constructed of 40 logs and 30 ropes.
  • The I-beams were to become structural members of a pedestrian bridge.

All 40 example sentences with bridge

Synonyms of bridge

Forms of bridge

Noun
pluralbridges
alternative Northern England Northern Ireland Scotlandbrig
alternative formbrigge
alternative form (obsolete)bridg
Verb
third-person singular presentbridges
present participlebridging
past participlebridged
pastbridged

Past tense of bridge: bridged

Plural of bridge: bridges

Origin of bridge

From Middle English brigge, from Old English brycġ (“bridge”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruggju, from Proto-Germanic *brugjō, *brugjǭ (“bridge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrēw- (“wooden flooring, decking, bridge”). Cognates Cognate with Scots brig, brigg (“bridge”), Yola burge (“bridge”), North Frisian brag, Bröch (“bridge”), Saterland Frisian Brääch, Brääg (“bridge”), West Frisian brêge (“bridge”), Dutch brug (“bridge”), German Brücke (“bridge”), Limburgish brögk (“bridge”), Luxembourgish Bréck (“bridge”), Vilamovian bryk (“bridge”), Yiddish בריק (brik, “bridge”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål brygge (“jetty, pier, wharf”), Faroese, Icelandic bryggja (“pier”), Norwegian Nynorsk brygge, bryggje (“jetty, pier, wharf”), Swedish brygga (“bridge; pier”). The verb is from Middle English briggen, from Old English brycġian (“to bridge, make a causeway, pave”), derived from the noun. Cognate with Dutch bruggen (“to bridge”), Middle Low German bruggen (“to bridge”), Old High German bruccōn (“to bridge”) (whence Modern German brücken). The sense of a part of a stringed instrument is a semantic loan from German Steg, from Old High German steg.

From the earlier game biritch, probably from Russian бирю́ч (birjúč) or бири́ч (biríč); else from Turkish bir-üç (“one-three”).

English surname, from the noun bridge.

Words formed from bridge

Phrases with bridge

165 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bridge

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bridge

What does bridge mean?
Bridge means a construction spanning a waterway, ravine, or valley from a height, allowing for the passage of vehicles, pedestrians, trains, etc.
What is bridge in Hindi?
Bridge in Hindi is सेतु (setu), पुल (pul), जवारी (javārī). See Bridge meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is bridge?
Bridge can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bridge?
Bridge is pronounced /bɹɪd͡ʒ/.
What is the plural of bridge?
The plural of bridge is bridges.

Words near bridge in the dictionary

  1. bridezilla
  2. bridezillas
  3. Bridford
  4. bridg
  5. bridgable
  6. bridge
  7. bridge and tunnel
  8. bridge builder
  9. bridge builders
  10. bridge bunnies
  11. bridge bunny

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bridge (page history and authors); Bridge (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bridge.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bridge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bridge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.