Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense, plural walls, present participle walling, past tense, past participle walled
1. countable noun
A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.
Kathryn leaned against the wall of the church. [+ of]
The bedroom walls would be painted light blue.
She checked the wall clock.
-walledcombining form
...a glass-walled elevator.
Our bedroom was white-walled with yellow silk curtains.
2. countable noun
A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.
He sat on the wall in the sun.
The well is surrounded by a wall only 12 inches high.
3. countable noun
The wall of something that is hollow is its side.
He ran his fingers along the inside walls of the box. [+ of]
4. countable noun
A wallof something is a large amount of it forming a high vertical barrier.
She gazed at the wall of books. [+ of]
I was just hit by a wall of water. [+ of]
5. countable noun
You can describe something as a wallof a particular kind when it acts as a barrier and prevents people from understanding something.
The police say they met the usual wall of silence. [+ of]
Synonyms: barrier, obstacle, barricade, obstruction More Synonyms of wall
6. See also cavity wall, dry-stone wall, fly-on-the-wall, hole-in-the-wall, off-the-wall, retaining wall, sea wall, stonewall, wall-to-wall
7.
See to bang your head against a brick wall
8.
See to have your back to the wall
9.
See climb the wall
10.
See drive someone up the wall
11.
See go to the wall
12. a fly on the wall
13. the writing is on the wall
Phrasal verbs:
See wall in
See wall off
See wall up
More Synonyms of wall
wall in British English
(wɔːl)
noun
1.
a.
a vertical construction made of stone, brick, wood, etc, with a length and height much greater than its thickness, used to enclose, divide, or support
b.
(as modifier)
wall hangings
▶ Related adjective: mural
2. (often plural)
a structure or rampart built to protect and surround a position or place for defensive purposes
3. anatomy
any lining, membrane, or investing part that encloses or bounds a bodily cavity or structure
abdominal wall
Technical name: paries ▶ Related adjective: parietal
4. mountaineering
a vertical or almost vertical smooth rock face
5.
anything that suggests a wall in function or effect
a wall of fire
a wall of prejudice
6. bang one's head against a brick wall
7. drive to the wall
8. drive up the wall
9. go to the wall
10. go up the wall
11. have one's back to the wall
12. off-the-wall
verb(transitive)
13.
to protect, provide, or confine with or as if with a wall
14. (often foll by up)
to block (an opening) with a wall
15. (often foll byin or up)
to seal by or within a wall or walls
Derived forms
walled
adjective
wall-less (ˈwall-less)
adjective
wall-like (ˈwall-ˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English weall, from Latin vallum palisade, from vallus stake
wall in American English
(wɔl)
noun
1.
an upright structure of wood, stone, brick, etc., serving to enclose, divide, support, or protect
; specif.,
a.
such a structure forming a side or inner partition of a building
b.
such a continuous structure serving to enclose an area, to separate fields, etc.
c. [usually pl.]
such a structure used as a military defense; fortification
d.
such a structure used to hold back water; levee; dike
2.
something resembling a wall in appearance or function, as the side or inside surface of a container or body cavity
3.
something suggestive of a wall in that it holds back, divides, hides, etc.
a wall of secrecy
adjective
4.
of or along a wall
5.
placed or growing on, in, or against a wall
verb transitive
6.
to furnish, line, enclose, divide, protect, etc. with or as with a wall or walls
to wall a room with books, to wall off the old wing, a mind walled in by fears
7.
to close up (an opening) with a wall
usually with up
Idioms:
drive to the wall
drive up the wall
go to the wall
hit the wall
off the wall
Derived forms
wall-like (ˈwall-ˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
ME wal < OE weall (akin to Ger wall) < L vallum, rampart < vallus, a stake, palisade < IE base *wel-, to turn > walk
More idioms containing
wall
be banging your head against a brick wall
someone would love to be a fly on the wall
come up against a brick wall
have your back to the wall
like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall
drive someone up the wall
go to the wall
hit the wall
nail someone to the wall
off the wall
someone will go to the wall for someone or something
the writing is on the wall
COBUILD Collocations
wall
boundary wall
compound wall
external wall
feature wall
opposite wall
outer wall
Examples of 'wall' in a sentence
wall
The scrubland has around a dozen olive trees surrounded by a low stone wall.
The Sun (2016)
This guy would have jumped from a high wall.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
One house had its roof blown off and walls almost entirely destroyed.
The Sun (2017)
British assistance included building a wall along the motorway to the port.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You look down from bedroom walls across the globe.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
The area is behind a wall of hay bales and has mats to test the accuracy of landings.
The Sun (2016)
It paid dividends in the first half but then it was backs to the wall for most of the second half.
The Sun (2016)
If sunny walls are the place for summer colour, climbers for north walls provide fine autumn tones.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Germany cannot allow Italy or any other Eurozone country to hit the wall.
The Sun (2016)
I'm going to build tunnels and a wall, but not tunnels under the wall.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
To one side of the fluorescent wall is a tunnel lined with white fluorescent tubes.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
You could see some of the original stone walls on the inside.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
That night it was like hitting the wall in the marathon.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Keep the walls vertical and store on the side the dirt that you dig out.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
What is the area of the wall not covered by the painting?
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
We all build walls to protect our vulnerability.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The whole structure glows and flickers inside its high boundary walls.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The wall of sound almost took off the roof.
The Sun (2010)
The restaurant is tucked away behind playground walls in a converted bike shed.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The townspeople protected themselves by building walls to defend against attacking nobles.
Appelbaum, Richard P. Sociology (1995)
They are great on bedroom walls and you do not waste space.
The Sun (2016)
We feel that we have come up against a brick wall.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The other end of the narrow valley was blocked with a wall of cloud.
Giles Whittell Spitfire Women of World War II (2007)
The citadel is entered through a tunnel in the walls.
Brines, Callum Collins Traveller - The Algarve (1993)
And then he hit a brick wall.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
At such depths the weight of the surrounding earth exerts tremendous stresses on vertical trench walls.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
There is an unexplained niche behind a thick area of curved wall in the playroom.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The heavy concrete walls protected the instruments from disturbance.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
They are expected to be torched to provide a wall of fire when bailiffs and police move in.
The Sun (2011)
Walls work as barriers, but better as mirrors.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Then you would need to check that your ruin has three standing walls to ceiling height or legal evidence that it previously did.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Where stone stile crosses wall, left along path.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The tall, heavy shields provided a wall from behind which each knight fought.
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss THE WOLF AND THE DOVE
The Montreal track can almost seem like a street circuit at times with barriers and walls close to the tarmac.
The Sun (2008)
Word lists with
wall
Types of jump, Social networking terms
In other languages
wall
British English: wall /wɔːl/ NOUN
of building A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.
...the bedroom walls.
American English: wall
Arabic: جِدار
Brazilian Portuguese: parede
Chinese: 墙壁
Croatian: zid
Czech: zeď
Danish: mur
Dutch: muur wand
European Spanish: pared
Finnish: seinä
French: mur
German: Mauer
Greek: τοίχος
Italian: muro
Japanese: 壁
Korean: 벽
Norwegian: vegg
Polish: ściana
European Portuguese: parede
Romanian: perete
Russian: стена
Latin American Spanish: pared
Swedish: vägg
Thai: กำแพง
Turkish: duvar
Ukrainian: стіна
Vietnamese: bức tường
British English: wall NOUN
between fields etc A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.
He sat on the wall in the sun.
American English: wall
Brazilian Portuguese: parede
Chinese: 墙
European Spanish: muro
French: mur
German: Mauer
Italian: muro
Japanese: 壁
Korean: 벽
European Portuguese: parede
Latin American Spanish: muro
All related terms of 'wall'
wall in
If someone or something is walled in , they are surrounded or enclosed by a wall or barrier .
wall up
If someone walls up a room , or if someone is walled up in it, walls are built blocking every door so that nobody can get in or out.
cell wall
the outer layer of a cell , esp the structure in plant cells that consists of cellulose , lignin , etc, and gives mechanical support to the cell
crib-wall
a supporting wall constructed by laying cribs at right angles to each other, as in cribwork
fire wall
a fireproof wall to prevent the spread of fire, as from one room or compartment to the next
rock wall
See rock fence
sea wall
A sea wall is a wall built along the edge of the sea to stop the sea flowing over the land or destroying it.
wall bars
a series of horizontal bars attached to a wall and used in gymnastics
wall fern
a small, hardy fern ( Polypodium virginianum ) of the most common family (Polypodiaceae) of ferns, with densely matted , creeping stems , found on cliffs and walls in E North America and often grown in gardens
wall game
a type of football played at Eton against a wall
wall knot
a knot forming a knob at the end of a rope, made by unwinding the strands and weaving them together
wall lamp
a lamp that is fixed onto a wall
wall off
If part of a place is walled off , it is separated from the rest of the place by a wall.
wall pass
a movement in which one player passes the ball to another and sprints forward to receive the quickly played return
wall plug
an electrical outlet permanently mounted on a wall
wall rock
rock that is immediately adjacent to a mineral vein , fault , or igneous intrusion
wall rue
a delicate fern , Asplenium ruta-muraria, that grows in rocky crevices and walls in North America and Eurasia
wall to wall
A wall-to-wall carpet covers the floor of a room completely.
Berlin Wall
a wall dividing the east and west sectors of Berlin , built in 1961 by the East German authorities to stop the flow of refugees from east to west; demolition of the wall began in 1989
blank wall
an impassable barricade or obstacle ; a situation in which further progress is impossible
breast wall
a retaining wall built to hold back a bank of earth
brick wall
a wall made out of brick
cavity wall
A cavity wall is a wall that consists of two separate walls with a space between them. Cavity walls help to keep out noise and cold .
flood wall
a wall built along a shore or bank to prevent floods by giving a raised, uniform freeboard and by allowing unimpeded flow to water in a channel
fourth wall
an imaginary barrier between a television programme , film, or play and its audience
garden wall
a wall surrounding a garden or separating two gardens
Great Wall
a vast sheet of many thousands of gravitationally associated galaxies detected in the universe
green wall
A green wall is a wall with plants growing in a layer of soil on its surface.
living wall
A living wall is the same as a → green wall .
outer wall
A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.
party wall
a wall separating two properties or pieces of land and over which each of the adjoining owners has certain rights
video wall
multiple computer monitors , video projectors , or television sets tiled together contiguously or overlapped in order to form one large screen
wall brown
any of three species of brown butterfly , esp the common Lasiommata megera, that habitually sun themselves on rocks and walls
wall fruit
fruit grown on trees trained against a wall for the shelter and warmth it provides
wall light
a lamp that is fixed onto a wall
wall lizard
a small mottled grey lizard , Lacerta muralis, of Europe, N Africa, and SW Asia: family Lacertidae
wall pepper
a small Eurasian crassulaceous plant, Sedum acre , having creeping stems, yellow flowers, and acrid-tasting leaves
wall plate
a horizontal timber member placed along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists , rafters , etc, and distribute the load
wall rocket
any of several yellow-flowered European plants of the genus Diplotaxis, such as D . muralis, that grow on old walls and in waste places: family Brassicaceae ( crucifers )
wall socket
A wall socket is a place in a wall where you can connect electrical equipment to the electricity supply.
wall space
You use space to refer to an area that is empty or available . The area can be any size . For example , you can refer to a large area outside as a large open space or to a small area between two objects as a small space .
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in New York where the Stock Exchange and important banks are. Wall Street is often used to refer to the financial business carried out there and to the people who work there.
wall system
a modular system of shelves , some of which may be enclosed by doors , either mounted on a wall or arranged in freestanding units, for holding books, bric-a-brac, etc., and sometimes including such features as a drop-leaf desk or specially designed storage space, as to accommodate electronic equipment
Antonine Wall
a Roman frontier defence work across S Scotland, extending between the River Clyde and the Firth of Forth . It was built in 142 ad on the orders of Antoninus Pius (86–161 ad ), emperor of Rome (138–161)
boundary wall
A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.
Chinese wall
a notional barrier between the parts of a business, esp between the market makers and brokers of a stock-exchange business, across which no information should pass to the detriment of clients
climbing wall
a specially constructed wall with recessed and projecting holds to give practice in rock climbing ; a feature of many sports centres
compound wall
A wall is a long narrow vertical structure made of stone or brick that surrounds or divides an area of land.
curtain wall
a non-load-bearing external wall attached to a framed structure, often one that is prefabricated
external wall
A wall is one of the vertical sides of a building or room.