Word.ws English Dictionary

dogged

/dɒɡd/US/dɔɡd/

dogged is the simple past and past participle of dog.

Meaning of dog

Verb

dog (third-person singular simple present dogs, present participle dogging, simple past and past participle dogged)

  1. (transitive) To pursue with the intent to catch.
  2. (transitive) To follow in an annoying or harassing way.
    • The woman cursed him so that trouble would dog his every step.
  3. (transitive) To fasten a hatch securely.
    • It is very important to dog down these hatches.
  4. (intransitive, emerging usage in UK) To watch, or participate, in sexual activity in a public place.
    • I admit that I like to dog at my local country park.
  5. (intransitive, transitive) To intentionally restrict one's productivity as employee; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
    • A surprise inspection of the night shift found that some workers were dogging it.
    Synonyms:
    soldier, goldbrick
  6. (slang, transitive) To criticize.
    • Harmon Rabb (David James Elliott): Are you dogging Harm's special meatless meatloaf?
      Sarah MacKenzie (Catherine Bell): Let's put it this way. If you were to make the Harmon Special on this ship, they'd have to unload it with the toxic waste.1999 March 30, “Shakedown”, in JAG, season 4, episode 18, via CBS

See all 36 meanings of dog

Adjective

UK/ˈdɒɡɪd/US/ˈdɔɡɪd/

dogged (comparative more dogged, superlative most dogged)

  1. stubbornly persevering, steadfast
    • Still, the dogged obstinacy of his race held him to the pace he had set, and would hold him till he dropped in his tracks.1900 April 7, Jack London, “To the Man on Trail”, in The Son of the Wolf: Tales of the Far North, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 114
    • Rushing out to the point above the reef, we watched the conflict between canoe and sea. When the man reached the gas boat, the screams of the boy stopped. With great risk they loaded the canoe till she began to take water. The boy bailed furiously. The long dogged pull of the man's oars challenged...1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck

Adverb

UK/ˈdɒɡɪd/US/ˈdɔɡɪd/

dogged (not comparable)

  1. (dated, slang) very
    • "I'm afraid I've given him a heap of trouble. You see," he explained, looking at Paul critically, "I never thought of eating before I left town, and one gets so dogged hungry, you know walking. I say it is a long tramp, isn't it?"1918, Ethel Penman Hope, Dr. Paul, page 127

Synonyms of dogged

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of dogged

comparativemore dogged
superlativemost dogged

Origin of dogged

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

From Middle English dogged, doggid, doggyd (“characteristics similar to that of a dog”), equivalent to dog + -ed.

Words formed from dogged

Phrases with dogged

Words that rhyme with dogged

Questions about dogged

What does dogged mean?
Dogged means stubbornly persevering, steadfast.
What is dogged the simple past and past participle of?
Dogged is the simple past and past participle of dog.
What part of speech is dogged?
Dogged can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce dogged?
Dogged is pronounced /dɒɡd/ (UK).

Words near dogged in the dictionary

  1. dogfucker
  2. dogfuckers
  3. dogfur
  4. Dogg
  5. dogge
  6. dogged
  7. dogged around
  8. dogged it
  9. dogged out
  10. dogged up
  11. doggeder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dogged (page history and authors); dog (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-au-dogged.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dogged (adj).wav.

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