plural hoards
: a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away
a hoard of cash
hoarded; hoarding; hoards
1
: to collect and often hide away a supply of : to accumulate a hoard (see hoard entry 1) of
hoarding food
2
: to keep (something, such as one's thoughts) to oneself
she hoarded her intention—
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolfthe people outside disperse their affections, you hoard yours, you nurse them into intensity—Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
: to collect and often hide away a supply of something
specifically
: to engage in compulsive hoarding
One thing people who hoard have in common is a skewed perceived value of possessions. —My Edmonds News (Edmonds, Washington)
My Edmonds News (Edmonds, Washington)
plural hoards
: a temporary board fence put around a building being erected or repaired : hoarding entry 2 sense 1
Examples of hoard in a Sentence
Noun (1)
a squirrel's hoard of nuts
keeps a hoard of empty yogurt containers in his basement workshop for storing whatnots
Verb
he's been hoarding empty yogurt containers all winter, with the intention of using them to start seedlings in the spring
Recent Examples on the Web
Quartz Staff, Quartz, 22 May 2025
In just the past few months, a Romanian man used a metal detector to uncover an ancient hoard of Roman coins.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 15 May 2025
Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2025
Betting on Bitcoin Critics of Bitcoin treasury strategies, including venture capital investor Nic Carter, have warned that companies hoarding BTC will inevitably sell under stress.
—Becca Bratcher, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoard
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show current usage.
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Noun
In one corner, the U.S.’s OpenAI hoards cutting-edge models behind APIs and licensing.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 22 May 2025
In just the past few months, a Romanian man used a metal detector to uncover an ancient hoard of Roman coins.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 15 May 2025
Verb
Republicans accused the majority party of once again hoarding that money for projects in their own districts.
—Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2025
Betting on Bitcoin Critics of Bitcoin treasury strategies, including venture capital investor Nic Carter, have warned that companies hoarding BTC will inevitably sell under stress.
—Becca Bratcher, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoard
Cite this Entry
“Hoard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoard. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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