plodded; plodding
1
: to work laboriously and monotonously : drudge
plodded through his work
2
a
: to walk heavily or slowly : trudge
b
: to proceed slowly or tediously
the movie's plot just plods along
: to tread slowly or heavily along or over
plodded the trail
plod·der
-ädə(r)
plural -s
1
: one that plods
especially
: a person who proceeds or works slowly, steadily, and unimaginatively
thick-witted, insensitive plodders … unable to follow the transcendental speculations of their opponents —
C. W. Shumaker
C. W. Shumaker the plodders who do exactly what they're told —Ethelbert Robinson
Ethelbert Robinson 2
: a machine for making ribbons or chips of milled soap into cakes by means of a spiral screw that forces the soap into a compression chamber and through a die
Examples of plod in a Sentence
Verb
We plodded through mud that came up past our ankles.
I could hear my roommate plodding up the steps to our apartment.
We plodded our way across the muddy field.
He plodded through his work.
The day was plodding along.
Recent Examples on the Web
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
By all accounts, the rocket was viewed as a major success for a company that, for so long, had seemed to plod along.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 29 May 2026
The other human beings his size have either been plodding trees who can barely get up the floor or rail-thin gazelles who can’t handle the G-forces their bodies generate at full speed.
—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 24 May 2026
Just last week, an Alameda County jury awarded $16 million to one such abuse victim, in a key case aimed at spurring long-plodding settlement talks between other abuse victims and the diocese.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for plod
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Verb
But plodding through them offers little pleasure, guilty or otherwise.
—Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
By all accounts, the rocket was viewed as a major success for a company that, for so long, had seemed to plod along.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 29 May 2026
The other human beings his size have either been plodding trees who can barely get up the floor or rail-thin gazelles who can’t handle the G-forces their bodies generate at full speed.
—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 24 May 2026
Just last week, an Alameda County jury awarded $16 million to one such abuse victim, in a key case aimed at spurring long-plodding settlement talks between other abuse victims and the diocese.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for plod
Cite this Entry
“Plod.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plod. Accessed 19 Jun. 2026.
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