Word.ws English Dictionary

waved

/weɪvd/

waved is the simple past and past participle of wave.

Adjective

waved (comparative more waved, superlative most waved)

  1. Having a wave-like form or outline; undulating.
  2. Wavy.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:waved.
  3. Having on the margin a succession of curved segments or incisions.

Meaning of wave

Verb

wave (third-person singular simple present waves, present participle waving, simple past and past participle waved)

  1. (intransitive) To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
    • The flag waved in the gentle breeze.
  2. (intransitive) To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
    • I raised my arms in a final salute. I smiled. I waved goodbye. I turned into the helicopter, the door was closed, the red carpet was rolled up.1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1090
  3. (metonymically, transitive) To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
    • I waved goodbye from across the room.
  4. (intransitive) To have an undulating or wavy form.
  5. (transitive) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
    • horns whelked and waved like the enridged seac. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  6. (transitive) To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
    • There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN

See all 24 meanings of wave

Forms of waved

comparativemore waved
superlativemost waved

Phrases with waved

Words that rhyme with waved

Questions about waved

What does waved mean?
Waved means having a wave-like form or outline; undulating.
What is waved the simple past and past participle of?
Waved is the simple past and past participle of wave.
What part of speech is waved?
Waved is an adjective.
How do you pronounce waved?
Waved is pronounced /weɪvd/.

Words near waved in the dictionary

  1. waveblocks
  2. wavebreak
  3. wavebreaking
  4. wavebreaks
  5. wavecut
  6. waved
  7. waved aside
  8. waved away
  9. waved down
  10. waved goodbye
  11. waved in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: waved (page history and authors); wave (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-waved.wav.

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