1
as in defense
means or method of defending
frequent hand washing is an oft-recommended ward against the spread of common germs
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2
as in custody
responsibility for the safety and well-being of someone or something
gained the ward of his cousin upon the death of her parents
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as in to protect
to drive danger or attack away from
vowed that he would take whatever measures were necessary to ward the nation's people
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Examples of ward in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Byjocelyn Kaiser, science.org, 12 Sep. 2024
Recommended Hope In the shadow of war, life begins anew in a Congolese maternity ward
An attempt to launch last month was postponed hours before liftoff over a small helium leak in ground equipment on SpaceX’s launchpad.
—Joey Roulette and Gerry Doyle, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Sep. 2024
Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2024
Pieces of fence, strips of caution tape and trash cans ward the curious — and even the mail carrier — away.
—Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ward 
Noun
In 2020, their father died of it at age 93 in a dementia ward, after months of seeing his family through a window because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
—Byjocelyn Kaiser, science.org, 12 Sep. 2024
Recommended Hope In the shadow of war, life begins anew in a Congolese maternity ward
An attempt to launch last month was postponed hours before liftoff over a small helium leak in ground equipment on SpaceX’s launchpad.
—Joey Roulette and Gerry Doyle, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Sep. 2024
Verb
As my colleagues reported, the Biden administration and European allies are working on a longer-term, multilateral plan aimed at warding against this scenario and future-proofing support for Ukraine.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2024
Pieces of fence, strips of caution tape and trash cans ward the curious — and even the mail carrier — away.
—Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ward
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ward.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Ward.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ward. Accessed 29 Sep. 2024.
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