A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to the area (e.g. William Morris Ward in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England). It is common in the United States for wards to simply be numbered.

The word "ward", for an electoral subdivision, appears to have originated in the Wards of the City of London, where gatherings for each ward known as "wardmotes" have taken place since the 12th century. The word was much later applied to divisions of other cities and towns in England and Wales and Ireland.

In parts of northern England, a ward was an administrative subdivision of a county, very similar to a hundred in other parts of England.

In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United States, wards are an electoral district, within a district or municipality, used in local government elections. In the United States, wards are usually subdivided into precincts for polling purposes. It remains the nomenclature in Wisconsin for what is now known as an electoral precinct elsewhere in the United States.

In some cities of India, such as Mumbai and Delhi, a ward is an administrative unit of the city region; a city area is divided into Zones, which in turn contain numerous wards. The smallest administrative unit of Gram Panchayats in India is also known as a ward. In Bangladesh wards are subdivisions of a city or town which administrates under City Corporations and municipalities (pourashova)

In East Africa, the word ward used in English is translated into Swahili/Kiswahili as Kata.

In the case of a municipal amalgamation, the former cities and towns that make up the new metropolis may be referred to as wards.

In Monaco, wards are informal divisions of the country, grouped into quartiers.