wed

/ˈwɛd/

wed verb: to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.

Verb

wed (third-person singular simple present weds, present participle wedding, simple past and past participle wed or wedded)

(transitive) To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.
- The priest wed the couple.
- And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
  Shall live with her.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
(transitive) To take as one's spouse.
- She wed her first love.
- In 1989, he wed Playmate Kimberley Conrad, a marriage that ended in 2010. In 2013, he married his younger girlfriend, Crystal Harris, with whom he was still wed at the time of his death.2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91”, in Rolling Stone
(intransitive) To take a spouse.
(reciprocal) To take each other as a spouse.
- They will wed in the summer.
- On the rock above was an inscription in three words. Ayesha translated it. It was `Wedded in Death.' What was the life-story of these two, who, of a truth, were beautiful in their lives, and in their death were not divided?1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
(figuratively, transitive) To join or commit to, more or less permanently, as if in marriage.
- I'm not wedded to this proposal; suggest an alternative.
- Affliction is enamoured of thy parts, and thou art wedded to calamity.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(figuratively, intransitive) To take to oneself and support; to espouse.
- They positively and concernedly wedded his cause.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
(Northern England, Scotland) To wager, stake, bet, place a bet, make a wager.
- I'd wed my head on that.

Noun capitalized: Wed

Wed (plural Weds)

(alternative) Alternative spelling of Wed..

wed meaning in Arabic, Persian, Vietnamese and Myanmar

wed in Arabic

to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony: تَزَوَّجَ tazawwaja

wed in Persian

to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony: پیوند peyvand, ازدواج ezdevâj, زناشویی zanâšuyi

wed in Vietnamese

to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony: cưới

wed in Myanmar

to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony: မင်္ဂလာဆောင် mangga.lahcaung, လက်ထပ် lakhtap

Examples of wed in a sentence

It is a fortunate sign if the sun shines on a newly wedded couple.
She was too wedded to the first thought that came into her mind to see that her second idea was better.
Papa says you must have your Degree and a Situation as well, before we can be wed.

All 24 example sentences with wed

Synonyms of wed

marry

Forms of wed

Verb
third-person singular present	weds
present participle	wedding
past participle	wed
past	wed
past participle	wedded
past	wedded
Noun
plural	Weds

Past tense of wed: wed or wedded

Origin of wed

From Middle English wedden, weddien, from Old English weddian (“to pledge; wed”), from Proto-West Germanic *waddjōn, from Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to pledge”), from *wadją (“pledge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge”). Cognate with Scots wed, wod, wad (“to wed”), Saterland Frisian wädje (“to bet, wager”), West Frisian wedzje (“to bet, wager”), Low German and Dutch wedden (“to bet”), German wetten (“to bet”), Danish vædde (“to bet”), Swedish vädja (“to appeal”), Icelandic veðja (“to bet”); more distantly, to Sanskrit वधू (vadhū́, “bride”). Related also to gage, engage, and wage.

Words formed from wed

Phrases with wed

newly wed

Words that rhyme with wed

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about wed

What does wed mean?: Wed means to perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.
What is wed in Arabic?: Wed in Arabic is تَزَوَّجَ (tazawwaja). See Wed meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is wed?: Wed can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce wed?: Wed is pronounced /ˈwɛd/.
What is the past tense of wed?: The past tense of wed is wed.

Words near wed in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: wed (page history and authors); Wed (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: 2026-09-02

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

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