aground
aground Lexical Profile
aground Game Scores & Validity
• adverb
On or onto the bottom in shallow water (with reference to a ship or boat).
"Strong coastal winds pushed the fishing trawler aground near the harbor entrance."
Into a state of entanglement, difficulty, or stalled progress (especially in the phrase 'run aground').
"The ambitious downtown redevelopment project ran aground after key investors withdrew their funding."
• adjective
Resting on or touching the bottom in shallow water, and therefore unable to move (of a ship or boat).
"The cargo vessel remained aground on the sandbar until the evening high tide floated it free."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an adjective, 'aground' is used strictly in the predicate position (following a linking verb, as in 'the boat is aground') and never directly before a noun.
• Rhymes for aground
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English 'agrounde', formed from the prefix 'a-' (a reduced form of the Old English preposition 'on') and 'ground'.