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. —Connie McDougall
Connie McDougall
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
Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
Plus, the brand has been spotted on hoards of celebrities, including Kate Middleton, Reese Witherspoon, and Meghan Markle.
—Maggie Horton, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025
Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
But streaming has changed the movie business, not only tweaking the types of projects that get made, and how many get released, but with companies like Disney, NBCUniversal and Paramount now hoarding their projects for their own platforms.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 22 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoard
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Noun
In that span, the de la Cruz Collection along with several other premier private hoards of art on public exhibit in Miami, helped to wholly redefine the city as a place far more substantial than just a sun’n’fun capital.
—Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
Plus, the brand has been spotted on hoards of celebrities, including Kate Middleton, Reese Witherspoon, and Meghan Markle.
—Maggie Horton, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025
Verb
Don’t hoard information; replace yourself constantly.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
But streaming has changed the movie business, not only tweaking the types of projects that get made, and how many get released, but with companies like Disney, NBCUniversal and Paramount now hoarding their projects for their own platforms.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 22 Nov. 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 4 Dec. 2025.
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