traverse
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traverse¹
- /tɹəˈvɝs/ US
- /tɹəˈvɜːs/ UK
- /ˈtɹævɚs/ US
- /ˈtɹævəs/ UK
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)s
Where it comes from
From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).
noun traverses
- A route used in mountaineering, specifically rock climbing, in which the descent occurs by a different route than the ascent.
- A series of points, with angles and distances measured between, traveled around a subject, usually for use as "control" i.e. angular reference system for later surveying work. At the entrance of the king, the first traverse was drawn, and the lower descent of the mountain discovered, which was the pendant of a hill to life, with divers boscages and grovets upon the steep or hanging grounds thereof.
- A screen or partition. Than sholde ye see there pressynge in a pace / Of one and other that wolde this lady see, / Whiche sat behynde a traves of sylke fyne, / Of golde of tessew the fynest that myghte be […]
- Something that thwarts or obstructs. He will succeed, as long as there are no unlucky traverses not under his control.
- A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of a church or other large building.
- A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings. The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc ("without this", i.e. without what follows).
- The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course. Two years earlier another U.S. submarine, U.S.S. Nautilus, had made history by completing the first undersea traverse of the North Pole.
- A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal.
- In trench warfare, a defensive trench built to prevent enfilade. At night, when the Federal guns slowed their fire, the men created new traverses and bombproofs.
- A traverse board. The whole care of the vessel rested, therefore, upon me, and I was obliged to direct her by my former experience, not being able to work a traverse.
verb traverses · traversing · traversed
- To travel across, to go through, to pass through, particularly under difficult conditions. He will have to traverse the mountain to get to the other side.
- To visit all parts of; to explore thoroughly. to traverse all nodes in a network
- To lay in a cross direction; to cross. The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by the flowing of the folds.
- To rotate a gun around a vertical axis to bear upon a military target. to traverse a cannon
- To climb or descend a steep hill at a wide angle (relative to the slope).
- To (make a cutting, an incline) across the gradients of a sloped face at safe rate. the road traversed the face of the ridge as the right-of-way climbed the mountain
- To act against; to thwart or obstruct. The well meaning Prieſt ſuffered him to deceive himſelf, fully determined to traverſe his views, inſtead of ſeconding them.
- To pass over and view; to survey carefully. My purpose is to […] traverse the nature, principles, and properties of this detestable vice—ingratitude.
- To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood. to traverse a board
- To deny formally. Without their coſt, you terminate the cauſe; / And ſave th' expence of long litigious laws: / Where ſuits are travers'd; and ſo little won, / That he who conquers, is but laſt undone: […]
- To use the motions of opposition or counteraction.
adverb more traverse · most traverse
- athwart; across; crosswise
adjective more traverse · most traverse
- Lying across; being in a direction across something else. paths cut with traverse trenches
Traverse²
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French Traverse.
proper noun Traverses
- A surname from French.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: crossbeam, crosspiece, sweep, transom, cover, track, trave, cut across, traversal, pass over, get across, cut through, get over, deny, cross, span
Translations
Every language
verb to travel across, often under difficult conditions
| Español | atravesar, cruzar, travesar, recorrer |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 遍歷 /遍历 biànlì |
| Português | atravessar, transir |
| Français | franchir, traverser |
| Deutsch | durchkreuzen, durchqueren, überqueren |
| Italiano | traversare |
| Ελληνικά | διασχίζω diaschízo, διατρέχω diatrécho |
| Русский | преодолева́ть preodolevátʹ, преодоле́ть preodolétʹ, пересека́ть peresekátʹ, пересе́чь pereséčʹ, переходи́ть perexodítʹ, перейти́ perejtí |
| العربية | اِجْتَازَ ijtāza, عَبَرَ ʕabara |
Talk about this word "traverse." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/traverse. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. traverse. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/traverse "traverse." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/traverse.Cite this
@misc{traverse_2026,
title = {traverse},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/traverse},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
