Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

jump

 - definition
Close

What are red words?

90% of the time, speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing.These words appear in red, and are graded with stars. One-star words are frequent, two-star words are morefrequent, and three-star words are the most frequent.

Close

Thesaurus

The thesaurus of synonyms and related words is fully integrated into the dictionary entries. Click on the T button in an entry to review the synonyms and related words for that meaning.

more
verb British English pronunciation: jump /dʒʌmp/ 
Word Forms
Close
present tense
I/you/we/theyjump
he/she/itjumps
present participlejumping
past tensejumped
past participlejumped
 
  1. 1
    [intransitive] to move your body off the ground using your legs

    You’ll have to jump if you want to catch it.

    jump about/around:

    I had to jump around a bit to get warm.

    jump up:

    The cat jumped up onto my lap.

    jump up and down:

    The children were all jumping up and down and cheering.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
    1. a.
      [intransitive/transitive] to move your body over something by pushing yourself off the ground using your legs

      Tanya jumped the fence and walked across the field.

      jump over:

      I jumped over the wall.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
    2. b.
      [intransitive] to push yourself, or to let yourself drop, from a very high place
      jump from/out of/off:

      They jump from the plane at about eight thousand feet.

      I grabbed my son and jumped out of the window.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
    3. c.
      [intransitive] to push yourself, or to let yourself drop, from a place that is a short distance above the ground
      jump down:

      Don’t jump down the stairs!

      jump from/off:

      He jumped from his horse.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  2. 2
    [intransitive] to move somewhere very suddenly
    jump into/onto/to:

    Ella jumped into the car and drove off at high speed.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  4. 4
    [intransitive] to increase or improve suddenly by a large amount

    Profits jumped by 15% last year.

    Williams jumped from 39th to 5th in the world rankings.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  5. 5
    [intransitive] to move quickly from one idea to another, in a way that is confusing or wrong
    jump from/to/back:

    The conversation suddenly jumped back to what had happened yesterday.

    jump to conclusions (=make a decision too quickly without knowing all the facts):

    We shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the cause of the problem.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
    1. a.
      [intransitive/transitive] to move from one part of something to another part and miss something

      I’m sorry, I’ve jumped a paragraph.

      jump to:

      Let’s now jump to page 10.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  6. 6
    [intransitive] informal to immediately do what someone tells you to do although you do not want to do it

    He gives the orders and I’m expected to jump.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  7. 7

    jump

     or

    jump on

     [transitive] informal to attack someone physically

    He was jumped by a gang of teenagers.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
  8. 8
    [intransitive] to work in a way that is not continuous or smooth

    The screen (=the images on the screen) on this computer keeps jumping.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  jumpThesaurus entry for this meaning of jump
See also

This is the British English definition of jump. View American English definition of jump.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.

 

showmance

a romantic relationship between two members of the cast of a play, film or television series

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day Word of the Day

soapstone

a type of soft stone that is often carved to make decorations

Open Dictionary

human-readable

able to be read and understood by people

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog