1
: an implement with two or more prongs used especially for taking up (as in eating), pitching, or digging
2
: a forked part, tool, or piece of equipment
3
a
: a division into branches or the place where something divides into branches
b
4
: one of the branches into which something forks
5
: an attack by one chess piece (such as a knight) on two pieces simultaneously
forked; forking; forks
1
: to divide into two or more branches
where the road forks
2
a
: to use or work with a fork
b
: to turn into a fork
1
: to give the form of a fork to
forking her fingers
2
: to attack (two chessmen) simultaneously
3
: to raise, pitch, dig, or work with a fork
fork hay
4
: pay, contribute
—used with over, out, or up
had to fork over $5000
forker
noun
Examples of fork in a Sentence
Noun
a fork in the road
the north fork of the river
the front fork of a bicycle
Verb
The road forks to the north and south.
They forked the hay into the loft.
Recent Examples on the Web
Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2025
They're paired with 37-mm cartridge forks up front with 200 mm of travel, and a rear monoshock with 180 mm of travel.
—New Atlas, 5 Mar. 2025
Kara Swisher, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2025
Although forking the foundational model stops further advances from being leveraged without retraining, our experience is that the performance gains after fine-tuning a model often outweigh the need for base model updates.
—Matt Lowe, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fork
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
Cut butter into flour mixture using two forks (or pinch it in using your fingertips) until mixture is crumbly but some pea-size butter pieces remain.
—Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2025
They're paired with 37-mm cartridge forks up front with 200 mm of travel, and a rear monoshock with 180 mm of travel.
—New Atlas, 5 Mar. 2025
Verb
And there seems to be no way out of this world, especially as egomaniacal entrepreneurs like Musk and others fork over small pieces of their vast fortunes to buy up everything from global media to, yes, a president of the United States.
—Kara Swisher, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2025
Although forking the foundational model stops further advances from being leveraged without retraining, our experience is that the performance gains after fine-tuning a model often outweigh the need for base model updates.
—Matt Lowe, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fork
Cite this Entry
“Fork.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fork. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fork
1 of 2 noun1
: a tool with two or more prongs used especially for taking up (as in eating), pitching, or digging
2
: a forked part or tool
3
a
: a dividing into branches or the place where something divides into branches
a fork in the road
b
: a branch of a fork
take the left fork
fork
2 of 2 verb1
: to divide into two or more branches
the road forks
2
: to raise or pitch with a fork
fork hay
3
: to give the form of a fork to
forked her fingers
4
: pay entry 1 sense 2, contribute
had to fork over $100
forker
noun
Medical Definition
fork
noun1
: a forked part, tool, or piece of equipment see tuning fork
2
: the lower part of the human body where the legs diverge from the trunk usually including the legs
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share