aground

adverb or adjective

Synonyms of agroundnext
1
: on the ground
planes aloft and aground
2
: on or onto the shore or the bottom of a body of water
A ship ran aground during the storm.

Examples of aground in a Sentence

the villagers came to stare at the foreign ship that was aground on their beach and at the strangely dressed sailors on board
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
That approach ran aground in the fall, when Democrats refused to fund the government without a deal to revive health care subsidies. Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 3 Feb. 2026 The prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James also quickly ran aground. Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2026 That logic, alas, runs aground on the reef of reality. John Hollinger, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2026 The Rocus, also known as The Bone Wreck, ran aground while transporting a cargo of cow bones to be used as fertilizer on the island, thus giving Anegada's Cow Wreck Beach its unique name. Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 7 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for aground

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of aground was in the 14th century

Cite this Entry

“Aground.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aground. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.

Kids Definition

aground

adverb or adjective
: on or onto the shore or the bottom of a body of water
the ship ran aground

More from Merriam-Webster on aground

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