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 ran aground during the storm.

Synonyms of aground

• stranded
• landed
• grounded
• beached

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

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, 9 Apr. 2026

The incident comes after another cruise ship, Coral Expeditions' Coral Adventurer, ran aground in Papua New Guinea in December. —Nathan Diller, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026

The semiofficial Tasnim and Fars news agencies, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported that the ship ran aground near the village of Ramchah on Qeshm Island. —Sean Nevin, NBC news, 27 Mar. 2026

Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line are also off course, running aground and sinking. —Jason Gewirtz, CNBC, 26 Mar. 2026

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