aground

adverb or adjective

ə-ˈgrau̇nd 

1

: on the ground

planes aloft and aground

2

: on or onto the shore or the bottom of a body of water

a ship run aground

Synonyms

• beached
• grounded
• stranded

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

And through such buffetings Constance’s little ketch had run aground. —Jim Shepard, New Yorker, 8 June 2025

Alas, Courtney’s conception of the film’s true dangerous animal is where the story truly runs aground. —Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025

On July 19th, the ship broke up amid a violent storm, having run aground on a sandbar just three hundred yards off Fire Island, New York. —James Marcus, New Yorker, 2 June 2025

Manila deploys missions to supply a small garrison of troops living aboard an aging warship that was deliberately run aground in 1999 to protect its maritime claims. —Anniek Bao, CNBC, 30 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for aground

• abound
• around
• astound
• background
• campground
• clothbound
• confound
• earthbound
• eastbound
• expound
• fairground
• foreground

Kids Definition

aground

adverb or adjective

ə-ˈgrau̇nd 

: on or onto the shore or the bottom of a body of water

the ship ran aground