Meaning & use
jaywalked
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“jaywalked” is a form of “jaywalk”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbintransitive
Walked across a street at a place where crossing is not allowed or against a traffic signal.
Grammar: No object: you jaywalk, you do not jaywalk a street. Often used with across or in front of.
Patterns
- jaywalk across a road
- jaywalk in front of a car
She jaywalked across the busy avenue and nearly got hit by a taxi.
The officer stopped him because he had jaywalked in front of a police car.
We jaywalked to save time, even though the crossing was only a few steps away.
Word forms
| base form | jaywalk |
|---|---|
| third person singular | jaywalks |
| present participle | jaywalking |
| past tense | jaywalked |
| past participle | jaywalked |
Common combinations
- jaywalk across the street
- He jaywalked across the street while the lights were still red.
- be fined for jaywalking
- Tourists are sometimes fined for jaywalking in this city.
- jaywalk in front of traffic
- She jaywalked in front of traffic and caused a driver to brake hard.
- get a ticket for jaywalking
- My brother got a ticket for jaywalking last week.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cross illegally
- A plain phrase rather than a single word; it spells out the legal point that jaywalking carries.
- dart across
- Focuses on the quick, sudden movement, not on whether the crossing was legal.
Opposites
Word family
- jaywalker noun
- A person who crosses the street where or when it is not allowed.
- jaywalking noun
- The act or offense of crossing a street illegally.
Commonly confused: jaywalked or walked?
jaywalked vs walked
Simply moving on foot; jaywalked adds the idea that the crossing broke a traffic rule.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses "jaywalked" correctly.
Choose one answer.
"Jaywalked" is intransitive, so it takes no object and usually appears with across or in front of; option B shows this. Options An and D wrongly give it an object, and C uses it for ordinary walking, which loses the meaning of crossing illegally.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “jaywalked”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.