Illustration of saddle
- 1 western
- 2 English
often attributive
1
a(1)
: a girthed usually padded and leather-covered seat for the rider of an animal (such as a horse)
(2)
: a part of a driving harness comparable to a saddle that is used to keep the breeching in place
b
: a seat to be straddled by the rider of a vehicle (such as a bicycle)
2
: a device mounted as a support and often shaped to fit the object held
3
a
: a ridge connecting two higher elevations
b
: a pass in a mountain range
4
a
: both sides of the unsplit back of a carcass including both loins
b
: a colored marking on the back of an animal
c
: the rear part of a male fowl's back extending to the tail see duck illustration
5
: the central part of the spine of the binding of a book
6
: a piece of leather across the instep of a shoe
saddled; saddling
ˈsa-dᵊl-iŋ 
ˈsad-liŋ
1
: to put a saddle on
2
a
: to place under a burden or encumbrance
b
: to place (an onerous responsibility) on a person or group
: to mount a saddled horse
Examples of saddle in a Sentence
Noun
the next day's hike was a stiff climb out of the saddle where they had camped for the night
Verb
He saddled his horse and mounted it.
to the social worker it seemed as though her supervisor had once again saddled her with a truly hopeless case
Recent Examples on the Web
New Atlas, 5 June 2025
New for 2026, the beige, sandstone interior color option has been replaced by stone grey to complement the available saddle brown and graphite options.
—Ed Garsten, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 23 May 2025
Once streaming became viable, Blockbuster chose to continue locations instead, ultimately saddling itself with a huge, expensive real estate footprint that wasn't drawing people in.
—John Pierce, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for saddle
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Noun
Reviewers who got in the saddle over top the buzzing, high-output 120S, meanwhile, praised it for being the most powerful ebike motor out there and loved the instant acceleration that came with the 120 Nm of continuous torque.
—New Atlas, 5 June 2025
New for 2026, the beige, sandstone interior color option has been replaced by stone grey to complement the available saddle brown and graphite options.
—Ed Garsten, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Verb
Further into the future, however, the bill will likely saddle America with a higher fiscal deficit.
—Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 23 May 2025
Once streaming became viable, Blockbuster chose to continue locations instead, ultimately saddling itself with a huge, expensive real estate footprint that wasn't drawing people in.
—John Pierce, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for saddle
Cite this Entry
“Saddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saddle. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
saddle
1 of 2 noun
sad·dle
ˈsad-ᵊl
1
a
: a padded and leather-covered seat for a horseback rider
b
: a padded part of a harness
c
: a bicycle or motorcycle seat
2
: something like a saddle in shape, position, or use
especially
: a support for an object
Medical Definition
saddle
noun
sad·dle
ˈsad-ᵊl
: the part of a partial denture that carries an artificial tooth and has connectors for adjacent teeth attached to its ends
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