Meaning & use
wagon
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Meanings
nouncountable
A vehicle with four wheels, usually pulled by horses or oxen, used for carrying heavy loads.
Grammar: Countable: a wagon, two wagons; often used with pull, load, or hitch.
Patterns
- pull a wagon
- load a wagon with something
- a wagon full of something
The farmer loaded the wagon with sacks of grain.
Two horses pulled the wagon along the dirt road.
They hitched the wagon to the tractor and drove to the field.
nouncountableAmerican
A small wheeled cart that a child sits in or pulls, or that is used to carry things.
Grammar: Countable; in American English a child's four-wheeled pushcart is often called a wagon.
Patterns
- pull a wagon
- a toy wagon
- in a wagon
The toddler pulled his little red wagon behind him.
She put the groceries in a wagon and wheeled it to the car.
nouncountableAmerican
A car with a long body and a door at the back, used for carrying luggage or goods.
Grammar: Countable; in American English this is a station wagon; in British English the usual word is estate car.
Patterns
- a station wagon
- drive a wagon
They bought a station wagon because they needed more space.
He folded the back seats down in the wagon to fit the boxes.
nounfixed phraseinformal
Used in the phrase on the wagon, meaning someone has stopped drinking alcohol.
Grammar: Fixed phrase; almost always used with be or go: he is on the wagon.
Patterns
- be on the wagon
- go on the wagon
After years of heavy drinking, he went on the wagon.
She has been on the wagon for six months now.
Word forms
| plural | wagons |
|---|
Common combinations
- pull a wagon
- The children took turns pulling the wagon up the hill.
- a wagon load of something
- They brought a wagon load of hay to the barn.
- station wagon
- Our station wagon has room for five people and a dog.
- on the wagon
- He's been on the wagon since New Year's Day.
- hitch a wagon to something
- They hitched the wagon to a pair of strong horses.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cart
- A cart is usually smaller and simpler, often with two wheels, while a wagon has four wheels and carries heavier loads.
- carriage
- A carriage is built for carrying people rather than goods, so it is not the right word for a farm wagon.
- truck
- A truck is motorized; use wagon for the older animal-drawn vehicle or for a child's toy.
Word family
- wagoner noun
- A person who drives a wagon.
Commonly confused: wagon or wagon vs. waggon?
wagon vs wagon vs. waggon
Waggon is a British spelling variant, but modern British and American English usually write wagon.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'wagon' correctly for a farm vehicle?
Choose one answer.
'Load something with something' is the correct pattern: load the wagon with sacks. The other prepositions do not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wagon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.