watched
UK/wɒtʃt//wɑt͡ʃt/
watched is the simple past and past participle of watch.
Meaning of watch
Verb
watch (third-person singular simple present watches, present participle watching, simple past and past participle watched)
- To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
- Watching the clock will not make time go faster.
- To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
- Watch this!
- To mind, attend, or guard.
- Please watch my suitcase for a minute.
- To be wary or cautious of.
- You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
- To attend to dangers to or regarding.
- watch your head; watch your step
- To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
- At the funeralls in Yorkeshire, to this day, they continue the custome of watching & sitting-up all night till the body is interred.1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 30
Adjective (1)
watched (comparative more watched, superlative most watched)
- Monitored.
- Terror reigns and the negroes are more watched than ever; free negroes ordered off by vigilance committees, and in the country men sleep with loaded firearms ‘handy!’ Little of all this appears on the surface, but men’s minds and faces are anxious.1867 January 7, en, “Sentiment of Louisiana. […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
- You would certainly think the watched quantum pot would also boil. It turns out, because of the vigilant observations, the transition never occurs; the watched quantum pot never boils.1996, Fred Alan Wolf, The Spiritual Universe, page 257
Adjective (2)
watched (not comparable)
- Wearing a watch (a portable or wearable timepiece).
- Passing the third checkpoint, the third smiling [sic] state policeman, a fellow by the name of R. C. Anderson, raises his big silver-watched wrist and touches the brim of his gray felt Stetson (yes, he does) as one faintly remembers Wendell Corey once doing from high on a Canadian Mountie snow peak...1969 September 1, Gail Sheehy, “The End of the Drinking Generation”, in New York, volume 2, number 35, page 63
- Conrad Scott then grabbed Senator Moss’s watched wrist and thrust it into the air, allowing the crowd to exercise their delirium one last time.1998, Ev Ehrlich (Everett M. Ehrlich), Big Government, Warner Books
Forms of watched
| comparative | more watched |
|---|---|
| superlative | most watched |
Origin of watched
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
From watch (“a portable or wearable timepiece”) + -ed (“having”).
Words formed from watched
Phrases with watched
- watched it
- watched out
- cock watched
- time watched
- watched over
- binge watched
- whale watched
- pocket watched
- watched folders
- watched one's ass
- watched paint dry
- watched grass grow
15 more phrasesFewer phrases
- watched one's back
- watched one's step
- watched the birdie
- watched like a hawk
- watched one's mouth
- watched the fur fly
- watched one's tongue
- watched one's language
- watched the world burn
- watched the world go by
- watched the feathers fly
- a watched pot never boils
- watched toast never burns
- a watched kettle never boils
- a watched pot never boils over
Words that rhyme with watched
Questions about watched
- What does watched mean?
- Watched means monitored.
- What is watched the simple past and past participle of?
- Watched is the simple past and past participle of watch.
- What part of speech is watched?
- Watched is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce watched?
- Watched is pronounced /wɑt͡ʃt/ (US).
Words near watched in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: watched (page history and authors); watch (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-watched.ogg.
Cite this entry: “watched.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/watched. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.