drove

1 of 2

noun

1
: a group of animals driven or moving in a body
2
: a large number : crowd
usually used in plural especially with in
came in droves

drove

2 of 2

past tense of drive

Examples of drove in a Sentence

Noun people flocked to the annual festival in droves
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Gen Zers in their droves are ditching college to become their own boss. Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2025 The word spread like wildfire across social media, sending droves of Swifties to her website. Hadley Hitson, Nashville Tennessean, 10 Oct. 2025 Join the droves of shoppers saving time on meal prep and grab this vegetable chopper with more than 11,300 five-star ratings. Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025 Raliegh led early in voting until droves of Judge votes poured in. Miami Herald, 26 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for drove

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Old English drāf, from drīfan to drive — more at drive

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of drove was before the 12th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Drove.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drove. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

drove

1 of 2 noun
1
: a group of animals driven or moving in a body
2
: a crowd of people moving or acting together

drove

2 of 2

past of drive

Etymology

Noun

Old English drāf "group of animals moving together," from drīfan "to drive"

More from Merriam-Webster on drove

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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