Word.ws English Dictionary

walk

/wɔːk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/woːk/

walk verb: to move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.

walk: to move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of...
Image: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

walk (third-person singular simple present walks, present participle walking, simple past and past participle walked)

  1. (intransitive) To move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.
    • To walk briskly for an hour every day is to keep fit.
    • Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn. He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the...1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16
  2. (colloquial, intransitive) To "walk free", i.e. to win, or avoid, a criminal court case, particularly when actually guilty.
    • If you can’t present a better case, that robber is going to walk.
    Synonyms:
    be acquit
  3. (colloquial, euphemistic, intransitive) Of an object, to go missing or be stolen.
    • If you leave your wallet lying around, it’s going to walk.
    Synonyms:
    be, get stolen, get nick, get pinch
  4. (intransitive) To walk off the field, as if given out, after the fielding side appeals and before the umpire has ruled; done as a matter of sportsmanship when the batsman believes he is out.
  5. (transitive) To travel (a distance) by walking.
    • I walk two miles to school every day.
    • The museum’s not far from here – you can walk it.
  6. (transitive) To take for a walk or accompany on a walk.
    • I walk the dog every morning.
    • Will you walk me home?
  7. (intransitive) To appear in a parade.
    • Those who wish to walk in the parade this fall should sign up now.
  8. (transitive) To allow a batter to reach base by pitching four balls.
  9. (intransitive) To reach base by being pitched four balls.
  10. (intransitive) Of an object or machine, to move by shifting between two positions, as if it were walking.
    • If we don't bolt the washing machine down, it's going to walk across the room.
  11. (transitive) To cause something to move in such a way.
    • I carefully walked the ladder along the wall.
  12. (transitive) To full; to beat (cloth) to give it the consistency of felt.
    Synonyms:
    full, waulk
Show 11 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (transitive) To traverse by walking (or analogous gradual movement).
    • I walked the streets aimlessly.
    • Debugging this computer program involved walking the heap.
  2. (transitive) To operate the left and right throttles of (an aircraft) in alternation.
    • Still keeping his tail in the air, Red coaxed the “Airknocker” ahead and as we grasped his struts he slowly retarded the throttle. We walked the plane between two tiedown blocks and not until we had tied the struts did Red cut the switch.1950, Flying Magazine, volume 46, number 3, page 18
  3. (colloquial, intransitive) To leave, resign.
    • If we don't offer him more money he'll walk.
    • He will make their cowes and garrans to walk.1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
  4. (transitive) To push (a vehicle) alongside oneself as one walks.
    • The county had a successful defense only because the judge kept telling the jury at every chance that the cyclist should have walked his bicycle like a pedestrian.1994, John Forester, Bicycle Transportation: A Handbook for Cycling Transportation Engineers, MIT Press, page 245
  5. (intransitive) To behave; to pursue a course of life; to conduct oneself.
    • We walk perversely with God, and he will walk crookedly toward us., page 35
  6. (intransitive) To go restlessly about; said of things or persons expected to remain quiet, such as a sleeping person, or the spirit of a dead person.
    • October 9, 1550, Hugh Latimer, sermon preached at Stamford, link
      I heard a pen walking in the chimney behind the cloth.
    • There have been reports of cases where, in the event of a girl having died, a man was chosen to go through the marriage ceremony and even have intercourse with the body, before burial, so that she might not "walk".1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 32
  7. (obsolete) To be in motion; to act; to move.
    • her toung did walke / In fowle reproch.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 233
    • I have heard, but not believed, the spirits of the dead / May walk again.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  8. (historical, transitive) To put, keep, or train (a puppy) in a walk, or training area for dogfighting.
  9. (informal, transitive) To move (a guest) to another hotel if their confirmed reservation is not available on the day of check-in.
  10. (intransitive, such as a drill bit or reamer) To tend to move radially while feeding axially, whether tending toward on-center or tending toward off-center. Walking may be desirable (e.g., when a reamer walks into concentricity) or undesirable (e.g., when a twist drill walks into eccentricity.)
  11. To pull (a trigger) rapid-fire by alternating two fingers.

Noun (1)

walk (plural walks)

  1. A trip made by walking.
    • I take a walk every morning.
    • go on a walk
    Synonyms:
    stroll, hike, trek
  2. A distance walked.
    • It’s a long walk from my house to the library.
    • The precinct is about ten minutes’ walk, straight ahead, so you can’t miss it.
    Synonyms:
    hike, trek
  3. An Olympic Games track event requiring that the heel of the leading foot touch the ground before the toe of the trailing foot leaves the ground.
  4. A manner of walking; a person's style of walking.
    • The Ministry of Silly Walks is underfunded this year.
    Synonyms:
    gait
  5. A path, sidewalk/pavement or other maintained place on which to walk.
    • And then it appeared to the young man that he was walking his love up the grass walk of Heriotside, with the house close by him.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
  6. (figuratively) A person's conduct or course in life.
    • people of different ages and walks
    • Men like Stuart who had no desire to extol Coleridge's virtues, and other witnesses quite as hostile, to whom a moral dereliction could hardly be a mortal offence, were loud in praise of the purity of his walk in life.1887, Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine, Sir Hall Caine, John Parker Anderson, Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, page 136
  7. A situation where all players fold to the big blind, as their first action (instead of calling or raising), once they get their cards.
  8. An award of first base to a batter following four balls being thrown by the pitcher; known in the rules as a "base on balls".
    • The pitcher now has two walks in this inning alone.
  9. In coffee, coconut, and other plantations, the space between them.
  10. (Belize, Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica) An area of an estate planted with fruit-bearing trees.
    • Twenty Acres of Land well kept in a Plantain Walk, will afford a very considerable Support, as Plantains are as hearty a Food as Eddoes, and the Plantain Walk may be a Nursery for declining Slaves, as well as to fatten old Cattle when they are past Labour.1755, William Belgrove, A Treatise upon Husbandry or Planting, Boston, page 14
    • For half a mile from Vaughansfield the road, now a mere track, leads through pastures and a coffee-walk to the foot of a very steep hill […]1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, page 80
  11. (historical) A place for keeping and training puppies for dogfighting.
  12. (historical) An enclosed area in which a gamecock is confined to prepare him for fighting.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A sequence of alternating vertices and edges, where each edge's endpoints are the preceding and following vertices in the sequence. Compare path, trail.
  2. (colloquial) Something very easily accomplished; a walk in the park.
    • And for the strongroom itself, he can tell us where to find the combination of the day. We had allowed four hours, Joe, but with this help, once you get us inside, it's a walk! I've been timing it.1980, Robert Barr, The Coming Out Present (episode of Detective, BBC radio drama; around 16 min 20 sec)
  3. (UK, dated, slang) A cheque drawn on a bank that was not a member of the London Clearing and whose sort code was allocated on a one-off basis; they had to be "walked" (hand-delivered by messengers).

Noun (2) capitalized: WalK

WalK (uncountable)

  1. A particular histidine kinase

Proper noun capitalized: Walk

Walk

  1. A surname.

walk meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

walk in Hindi

to move on the feet
टहलना ṭahalnā, चलना calnā, जाना jānā
trip made by walking
सैर sair

walk in Tamil

to move on the feet
நட naṭa

walk in Marathi

walk, style of movement
चाल ċāl
to walk
चालणे ċālṇe

walk in Urdu

to move on the feet
ٹہلنا ṭahalnā, چلنا calnā, جانا jānā
trip made by walking
سَیر sair
More languagesFewer languages
walk in Bengali
হাঁটা hãṭa, চলা cola
walk in Telugu
నడుచుట naḍucuṭa, నడక naḍaka, కాలి బాట kāli bāṭa
walk in Malayalam
നടക്കുക naṭakkuka
walk in Kannada
ನಡೆ naḍe
walk in Punjabi
ਚਲਣਾ calṇā
walk in Gujarati
જવું javũ
walk in Odia
ଆସିବା āsibā
walk in Sanskrit
चलति calati, एति eti
walk in Sinhala
ඇවිදිනවා æwidinawā
walk in Assamese
খোজ কাঢ় khüz karh, বুল bul
walk in Nepali
हिँड्नु hĩḍnu
walk in Pashto
ګرځېدل gërźedël
walk in Tagalog
maglakad, parada, lakarin, ilakad
walk in Arabic
مَشَى mašā, تَمَشَّى tamaššā, مِشي miši, يِمشي yimši
walk in Malay
berjalan
walk in Indonesian
jalan
walk in Persian
راه رفتن râh raftan, پیاده رفتن piyâde raftan, راه بردن râh bordan
walk in Thai
เดิน dəən
walk in Vietnamese
đi, đi bộ, đi dạo, sự đi dạo
walk in Myanmar
လျှောက် hlyauk, လမ်းလျှောက် lam:hlyauk
Sindhi
هلڻ lṇ

Examples of walk in a sentence

  • Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
  • Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...
  • He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
  • I will rather trust[…]a thief to walk my ambling gelding.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...

All 40 example sentences with walk

Synonyms of walk

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of walk

Forms of walk

Verb
third-person singular presentwalks
present participlewalking
past participlewalked
pastwalked
second-person singular present (archaic)walkest
second-person singular past (archaic)walkedst
third-person singular present (archaic)walketh
alternative form (obsolete)walke
Noun
pluralwalks

Past tense of walk: walked

Plural of walk: walks

Origin of walk

From Middle English walk, walke, walken, walkyn, wolken (“to roll, toss, or turn; to walk; to move; to be living; to beat or full; to perform”), a conflation of Old English wealcan (“to move around; to revolve; to roll; to fluctuate; to discuss”) (ġewealcan (“to go, traverse; to roll”)) and Old English wealcian (“to curl, roll up, twist; to wrinkle”); both from Proto-West Germanic *walkan, from Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to roll, toss, turn, wind; to walk, wander, wend; to full, trample”), *walkōną (“to roll about; to full”), from Proto-Indo-European *walg- (“to twist, turn, move”). Cognates Cognate with Bavarian woikn (“to full, tan; to knead dough; to roll out dough”), Cimbrian balchan (“to beat, hit, strike”), Dutch zwalken (“to walk around”), German walken (“to full, tan, walk; to knead; to beat up”), Danish valke (“to full, walk, waulk”), Faroese válka (“make dirty; stir up dirt”), Swedish valka (“to full cloth, to waulk”); also Latin valgus (“bent out; bandy, bow-legged”). More at vagrant and whelk. Doublet of waulk.

From Middle English walc, walk, walke, from Old English *wealc (as in Old English wealcspinl) and ġewealc (“rolling, turning; motion, surging”), from Proto-Germanic *walką. Cognate with Icelandic volk (“difficulty, hardship, trouble”).

* As a German surname, variant of Walke. * As an English surname, from the noun and verb walk.

Words formed from walk

Phrases with walk

124 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with walk

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about walk

What does walk mean?
Walk means to move on the feet by alternately setting each foot (or pair or group of feet, in the case of animals with four or more feet) forward, with at least one foot on the ground at all times. Compare run.
What is walk in Hindi?
Walk in Hindi is टहलना (ṭahalnā), चलना (calnā), जाना (jānā). See Walk meaning in Hindi.
How do you use walk in a sentence?
Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
What part of speech is walk?
Walk can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce walk?
Walk is pronounced /wɔːk/ (UK).
What is the past tense of walk?
The past tense of walk is walked.

Words near walk in the dictionary

  1. walipinis
  2. walis
  3. waliship
  4. waliships
  5. Waliszew
  6. walk
  7. walk a mile in someone's shoes
  8. walk a straight line
  9. walk a tightrope
  10. walk about
  11. walk after lunch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: walk (page history and authors); WalK (page history and authors); Walk (page history and authors); चाल (Marathi) (page history and authors); ನಡೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ඇවිදිනවා (Sinhala) (page history and authors); ګرځېدل (Pashto) (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-uk-walk.ogg, en-us-walk.ogg, en-au-walk.ogg.

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