hug

/hʌɡ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/hʊɡ/

hug noun: a close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, or the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace).

Noun

hug (plural hugs)

A close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, or the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace).
A particular grip in wrestling.

Verb

hug (third-person singular simple present hugs, present participle hugging, simple past and past participle hugged)

(intransitive, obsolete) To crouch; to huddle as with cold.
- They had a slight breast work, and they hugged down behind it and waited.1885, M. Quad, Field, Fort and Fleet, page 354
- That is why they are so little known and never explored. During the day, when a Chilean cruiser nosed around uncomfortably close, the little sloop would be hugged under the lee of one of the islands, sail lowered and anchor dropped.1892, Paul Boyton, The Story of Paul Boyton
Synonyms:

hunker, squat, stoop
(intransitive) To cling closely together.

Synonyms:

cleave
(reciprocal, transitive) To embrace by holding closely, especially in the arms.
- Billy hugged Danny until he felt better.
- They hugged for what seemed like an eternity.
Synonyms:

accoll
(transitive) To stay close to.
- to hug the shore, to hug the coastline
- We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
(figuratively, transitive) To hold fast; to cling to; to cherish.
- We hug intellectual deformities, if they bear our names1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

treasure

hug meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

hug in Hindi

affectionate embrace: आलिंगन āliṅgan, आग़ोश āġoś
to embrace: आलिंगन करना āliṅgan karnā

hug in Tamil

கட்டி அணைத்தல், அணைத்துக் கொள், கட்டிப்பிடி

hug in Marathi

hug, embrace: आलिंगन āliṅgan

hug in Urdu

affectionate embrace: بَغَل گِیری baġal gīrī, آغوش āġoś
to embrace: گلے ملنا gale milnā, گلے لگانا gale lagānā, ملنا milnā

More languagesFewer languages

hug in Bengali: আলিঙ্গন করা, জাপটে ধরা, খুব কাছে থাকা
hug in Telugu: కౌగిలించుకోండి, కౌగిలించుకోడానికి, కౌగిలించుకోవడానికి
hug in Malayalam: കെട്ടിപ്പിടിക്കൽ keṭṭippiṭikkal, ആലിംഗനം āliṅganaṁ, ആശ്ലേഷം āślēṣaṁ, കെട്ടിപ്പിടിക്കുക keṭṭippiṭikkuka
hug in Kannada: ಅಪ್ಪಿಕೊ, ಆಲಿಂಗಿಸಿಕೊ, ತಬ್ಬಿಕೊ, ಎದೆಗವಚಿಕೊ
hug in Punjabi: پاری pārī
hug in Gujarati: ભેટ bheṭ, આલિંગન āliṅgan
hug in Odia: ଆଲିଙ୍ଗନ କରନ୍ତୁ, ଆଲିଙ୍ଗନ କରନ୍ତୁ |, ଆଲିଙ୍ଗନ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
hug in Assamese: সাবট xabot, সাৱট xawot
hug in Nepali: आलिङ्गन गर्नुहोस्, आलिंगन गर्नुहोस्, आलिङ्गन गर्न
hug in Tagalog: yakap
hug in Arabic: اِحْتِضَان iḥtiḍān, حَضْن ḥaḍn, مُعَانَقَة muʕānaqa, عِنَاق ʕināq
hug in Malay: pelukan, memeluk
hug in Indonesian: memeluk, mendekap
hug in Persian: بغل کردن baġal kardan, در آغوش گرفتن dar âġuš gereftan
hug in Thai: การกอด gaan-gɔ̀ɔt, กอด gɔ̀ɔt
hug in Vietnamese: sự ôm, ôm
hug in Myanmar: ဖက် hpak

Examples of hug in a sentence

bright rocks whose stain of emerald or quartz shaft of shine the starfish hugged beneath the tide .1892, The Sewanee Review - Volume 66, page 263:
She put her feet on a rung and hugged down against her knees, making herself even smaller.2014, Thomas Gifford, The Cavanaugh Quest:
Zhai Tingshen stood at the window upstairs, his black eyes staring intently at the figure that was tightly hugged below.2020, Zhenyinfang, Marital Passion:
Gourock also boasted a pier railway, although its pier hugged the shore rather than jutting into the bay.2020 October 21, Dr Joseph Brennan, “From the main line and over the waves”, in Rail, page 60:

All 40 example sentences with hug

Synonyms of hug

All synonyms of hug

Forms of hug

Noun
plural	hugs
Verb
third-person singular present	hugs
present participle	hugging
past participle	hugged
past	hugged

Past tense of hug: hugged

Plural of hug: hugs

Origin of hug

From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”), from hugr (“mind, heart, thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, thought, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga (“to comfort”), Old English hyġe (“thought”) (whence high (Etymology 2)).

Words formed from hug

Phrases with hug

Words that rhyme with hug

23 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about hug

What does hug mean?: Hug means a close embrace, especially when charged with an emotion such as affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, aggression, compassion, or the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace).
What is hug in Hindi?: Hug in Hindi is आलिंगन (āliṅgan), आग़ोश (āġoś), आलिंगन करना (āliṅgan karnā). See Hug meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hug in a sentence?: bright rocks whose stain of emerald or quartz shaft of shine the starfish hugged beneath the tide .
What part of speech is hug?: Hug can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce hug?: Hug is pronounced /hʌɡ/.
What is the plural of hug?: The plural of hug is hugs.

Words near hug in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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

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