Word.ws English Dictionary

trod water

trod water is the simple past and past participle of tread water.

Meaning of tread water

Verb

tread water (third-person singular simple present treads water, present participle treading water, simple past (common in US) treaded water or (more common in UK) trod water, past participle (common in US) treaded water or (more common in UK) trod water or (more common in UK) trodden water)

  1. (intransitive) To remain afloat in the water without use of any buoyancy aid, by using kicking motions and hand motions.
    • Near-synonym: keep one's head above water
  2. (figuratively) To make no progress, expending effort just enough to maintain a stable position.
    • Near-synonym: keep one's head above water

Questions about trod water

What is trod water the simple past and past participle of?
Trod water is the simple past and past participle of tread water.

Words near trod water in the dictionary

  1. trod out
  2. trod softly
  3. trod the boards
  4. trod the stage
  5. trod upon
  6. trod water
  7. trodded
  8. trodden
  9. trodden a measure
  10. trodden carefully
  11. trodden down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trod water (page history and authors); tread water (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.

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