Library / English Dictionary

WARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells)

Synonyms:

cellblock; ward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ward" is a kind of...):

block (housing in a large building that is divided into separate units)

Meronyms (parts of "ward"):

cell; jail cell; prison cell (a room where a prisoner is kept)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ward"):

death house; death row (the cellblock in a prison where those condemned to death await execution)

Holonyms ("ward" is a part of...):

prison; prison house (a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Block forming a division of a hospital (or a suite of rooms) shared by patients who need a similar kind of care

Example:

they put her in a 4-bed ward

Synonyms:

hospital ward; ward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ward" is a kind of...):

block (housing in a large building that is divided into separate units)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ward"):

detox (the hospital ward or clinic in which patients are detoxified)

maternity ward (a hospital ward that provides care for women during pregnancy and childbirth and for newborn infants)

Holonyms ("ward" is a part of...):

hospital; infirmary (a health facility where patients receive treatment)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A district into which a city or town is divided for the purpose of administration and elections

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("ward" is a kind of...):

administrative district; administrative division; territorial division (a district defined for administrative purposes)

Holonyms ("ward" is a part of...):

municipality (an urban district having corporate status and powers of self-government)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A person who is under the protection or in the custody of another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("ward" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

ward (watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect)

Sense 5

Meaning:

United States businessman who in 1872 established a successful mail-order business (1843-1913)

Synonyms:

Aaron Montgomery Ward; Montgomery Ward; Ward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

businessman; man of affairs (a person engaged in commercial or industrial business (especially an owner or executive))

Sense 6

Meaning:

English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920)

Synonyms:

Mary Augusta Arnold Ward; Mrs. Humphrey Ward; Ward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 7

Meaning:

English economist and conservationist (1914-1981)

Synonyms:

Barbara Ward; Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth; Ward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

economic expert; economist (an expert in the science of economics)

conservationist; environmentalist (someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Watch over or shield from danger or harm; protect

Example:

guard my possessions while I'm away

Synonyms:

guard; ward

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "ward" is one way to...):

protect (shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ward"):

shepherd (watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

ward (a person who is under the protection or in the custody of another)

warder (a person who works in a prison and is in charge of prisoners)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Mutations in the gene are associated with hereditary long QT syndrome, Romano-Ward syndrome, Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome and familial atrial fibrillation.

(KCNQ1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The present study involved 13 newborn infants in a neonatal ward who had a bout of hiccups.

(Baby Hiccups Key to Brain Development, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

His forearms were black and blue from wrist to elbow, what of the countless blows he had warded off, and here and there the tortured flesh was beginning to fester.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

EXAMPLE(S): The license plate number of an ambulance; An identifier for a bed in a hospital ward

(Place Identifier, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

A unit for measurement of enzymatic activity of plasma and membrane-bound proteins that comprise a complement system and their split products in functional assays indicative of the activity of the classical and alternative pathways designed to ward off invading pathogens.

(Complement Activity Enzyme Unit, NCI Thesaurus)

In spite of the danger from dinosaurs (which is not great save at night, for, as I may have said before, they are mostly nocturnal in their habits) I have twice in the last three weeks been over to our old camp in order to see our negro who still kept watch and ward below the cliff.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

According to a new study, infections can have long-lasting effects on a population of meningeal immune cells, replacing them with cells from outside the meninges that then change and become less likely to recognize and ward off future attacks.

(Meningitis changes immune cell makeup in the mouse brain lining, National Institutes of Health)

Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found herself obliged to be attached to the Rev. Mr. Norris, a friend of her brother-in-law, with scarcely any private fortune, and Miss Frances fared yet worse.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The evening breeze had sprung up, and though it was well warded off by the hill with the two peaks upon the east, the cordage had begun to sing a little softly to itself and the idle sails to rattle to and fro.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Inflammation occurs when the body’s defensive mechanism kicks in to ward off infection or disease, but this mechanism can turn against itself when triggered, for instance, by excess low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) that seep into the lining of the arteries.

(Study links psoriasis treatment and improvement in heart artery disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)