wedge
a piece of hard material with two principal faces meeting in a sharply acute angle, for raising, holding, or splitting objects by applying a pounding or driving force, as from a hammer.: Compare machine (def. 3b).
a piece of anything of like shape: a wedge of pie.
a cuneiform character or stroke of this shape.
Meteorology. (formerly) an elongated area of relatively high pressure.
something that serves to part, split, divide, etc.: The quarrel drove a wedge into the party organization.
Military. (formerly) a tactical formation generally in the form of a V with the point toward the enemy.
Golf. a club with an iron head the face of which is nearly horizontal, for lofting the ball, especially out of sand traps and high grass.
Optics. optical wedge.
Chiefly Coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island. a hero sandwich.
a wedge heel or shoe with such a heel.
to separate or split with or as if with a wedge (often followed by open, apart, etc.): to wedge open a log.
to insert or fix with a wedge.
to pack or fix tightly: to wedge clothes into a suitcase.
to thrust, drive, fix, etc., like a wedge: He wedged himself through the narrow opening.
Ceramics. to pound (clay) in order to remove air bubbles.
to fell or direct the fall of (a tree) by driving wedges into the cut made by the saw.
to force a way like a wedge (usually followed by in, into, through, etc.): The box won't wedge into such a narrow space.
Origin of wedge
1regional variation note For wedge
Other words for wedge
Other words from wedge
- wedgelike, adjective
- un·wedge, verb (used with object), un·wedged, un·wedg·ing.
Words Nearby wedge
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wedge in a sentence
They think they’re going to win eventually, and they just need to slowly drive a wedge in there.
TheDonald’s owner speaks out on why he finally pulled plug on hate-filled site | Craig Timberg, Drew Harwell | February 5, 2021 | Washington PostRather, deep rock pushing toward Earth’s surface may be driving a wedge between the plates that helps separate them, researchers report online January 27 in Nature.
An upwelling of rock beneath the Atlantic may drive continents apart | Maria Temming | February 4, 2021 | Science NewsLike the wedge of cheese it is, Firefly Lane goes down easy with a glass of wine.
Netflix's Undeniably Cheesy Gal-Pal Drama Firefly Lane Pairs Well With a Glass of Wine | Judy Berman | February 3, 2021 | TimeAnti-snore pillows often come in the shape of a wedge, but you can also find smaller pillows to use as a level or an insert along with your current pillow.
Almost anyone with an agenda and some know-how can shove a wedge of doubt between citizens and consequential facts, whether they be election results, climate science or ways to avoid life-threatening illness.
Salt: The dietary danger that’s easy to ignore | Karen Sandstrom | December 11, 2020 | Washington Post
The execution of two police officers in cold blood has shocked the city and driven a deeper wedge between the cops and the mayor.
A decade ago, gays were a wedge issue used by Republicans to energize the base.
It Gets Better—but Mostly if You Live in a Rich, Democratic Country | Jay Michaelson | November 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn recent years there have been many issues driving a wedge between Riyadh and Washington.
Bevin, along with state and national Democrats, delight in trying to drive a wedge between McConnell and Paul.
Police squadrons had to form a “flying wedge” to break through the crowd to rescue blacks besieged in the park.
The individual prisms are usually slender, with one beveled, wedge-like end, but are sometimes needle-like.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddI dont think much of this jam pie, complained Chet, holding up a wedge that he had taken from his sisters basket.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonIt should be fixed in the head by means of a thin, barbed iron wedge.
With the wedge Rose pried a floor-board out of its place, and made an opening large enough to let himself through.
The gate was already opening, a wedge of the painted warriors heading through, flame-throwers ready.
Star Born | Andre Norton
British Dictionary definitions for wedge
/ (wɛdʒ) /
a block of solid material, esp wood or metal, that is shaped like a narrow V in cross section and can be pushed or driven between two objects or parts of an object in order to split or secure them
any formation, structure, or substance in the shape of a wedge: a wedge of cheese
something such as an idea, action, etc, that tends to cause division
a shoe with a wedge heel
golf a club with a face angle of more than 50°, used for bunker shots (sand wedge) or pitch shots (pitching wedge)
a wedge-shaped extension of the high pressure area of an anticyclone, narrower than a ridge
mountaineering a wedge-shaped device, formerly of wood, now usually of hollow steel, for hammering into a crack to provide an anchor point
any of the triangular characters used in cuneiform writing
(formerly) a body of troops formed in a V-shape
photog a strip of glass coated in such a way that it is clear at one end but becomes progressively more opaque towards the other end: used in making measurements of transmission density
British slang a bribe
thin end of the wedge anything unimportant in itself that implies the start of something much larger
(tr) to secure with or as if with a wedge
to squeeze or be squeezed like a wedge into a narrow space
(tr) to force apart or divide with or as if with a wedge
Origin of wedge
1Derived forms of wedge
- wedgelike, adjective
- wedgy, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with wedge
see thin edge of the wedge.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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