Meaning & use
ford
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To cross a river or stream at a shallow place by walking, riding or driving through the water.
Grammar: Takes an object: ford the river.
Patterns
- ford a river
- ford a stream
The travelers forded the stream on horseback.
We had to ford a shallow creek to reach the cabin.
The truck forded the river and came out dripping.
nouncountable
A shallow part of a river or stream where people or vehicles can cross without a bridge.
Grammar: Often a place name element: Oxford, Stratford.
Patterns
- cross at the ford
- a ford across something
The cattle crossed the river at the ford.
A small stone ford lies below the old mill.
After the rain, the ford was too deep to use.
Word forms
| third person singular | fords |
|---|---|
| past tense | forded |
| past participle | forded |
| -ing form | fording |
| plural of the noun | fords |
Common combinations
- ford a river
- The pioneers forded the river with their wagons.
- ford a stream
- The hikers forded a stream in their boots.
- shallow ford
- They found a shallow ford downstream.
- cross at the ford
- Deer cross at the ford every dawn.
- ford on foot
- We forded on foot because the bridge was washed out.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wade across
- Wade across means to walk through water, but it does not need a marked shallow crossing, unlike ford.
- cross
- Cross is a general word for going over anything, but ford says you go through shallow water.
- traverse
- Traverse is formal and suggests travel across a large area, not water in particular.
Word family
- fordable adjective
- shallow enough to cross
- unfordable adjective
- too deep to cross
- fording noun
- the act of crossing through shallow water
- Oxford proper noun
- a city name meaning a ford for oxen
Commonly confused: ford or Ford? ford or fort?
ford vs Ford
Ford with a capital F is a car brand and a surname, while lowercase ford is the river crossing.
ford vs fort
A fort is a fortified building, and the two words sound alike in some accents.
Practice
The bridge was washed away, so we had to ___ the river at its shallowest point.
Choose one answer.
To ford a river is to cross through shallow water. Bridge, tunnel and flood do not describe crossing on foot or by vehicle in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ford”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.