: a long narrow excavation dug in the earth (as for drainage)
ditched; ditching; ditches
1
a
: to surround with a long narrow cavity in the earth : to enclose with a ditch (see ditch entry 1)
The pasture was hedged and ditched.
b
: to dig a ditch in
2
aviation
: to make a forced landing of (an airplane) on water
successfully ditched the plane
Synonyms
Examples of ditch in a Sentence
Noun
He drove the car into the ditch.
after skidding on the ice, our car went right into the ditch
Verb
The thief ditched the purse in an alley.
They ditched the car in a vacant lot.
They ditched me at the concert.
Recent Examples on the Web
Chris Ponce, Sacramento Bee, 20 June 2024
The berries are a species in love with disturbance, and so the canes are not under the thick canopy that covers the mountains, but rather in places where humans have opened the dirt to the sky: along railbeds, under telephone wires, along roadside ditches.
—Noah Davis, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 June 2024
Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 8 July 2024
The crew would eject before impact, if possible, or the plane would ditch in the water with the crew on board.
—Jane Perlez, Foreign Affairs, 5 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for ditch 
Noun
Levee maintenance began Thursday along ditches and creeks in Sacramento, part of ongoing work across the city by its Department of Utilities to remove debris and overgrown vegetation from areas used for flood control and prevention.
—Chris Ponce, Sacramento Bee, 20 June 2024
The berries are a species in love with disturbance, and so the canes are not under the thick canopy that covers the mountains, but rather in places where humans have opened the dirt to the sky: along railbeds, under telephone wires, along roadside ditches.
—Noah Davis, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 June 2024
Verb
The movie, written by Seth Reiss (The Menu), also sees Robbie ditching Barbie's signature platinum locks.
—Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 8 July 2024
The crew would eject before impact, if possible, or the plane would ditch in the water with the crew on board.
—Jane Perlez, Foreign Affairs, 5 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for ditch
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ditch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ditch
Cite this Entry
“Ditch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ditch. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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