fell
noun · verb · adjective · adverb
Form of fall , past tense of fall.
Simple meaning
An animal skin, hide.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fehlIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɛl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An animal skin, hide, pelt.
The dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal)
The stitching down of a fold of cloth; specifically, the portion of a kilt, from the waist to the seat, where the pleats are stitched down.
A cutting-down of timber.
Human skin (now only as a metaphorical use of previous sense).
A pony of a versatile working mountain and moorland breed originating on Cumberland and Westmorland farms of northwest England.
verb
past tense of fallheadingintransitive
To be moved downwards.
past tense of fall
To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
transitive
To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree.
sewing
To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
transitive
To strike down, kill, destroy.
adjective
Of a strong and cruel nature; eager and unsparing; grim; fierce; ruthless; savage.
adverb
Sharply; fiercely.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (sewing) To stitch down a protruding flap of fabric, as a seam allowance, or pleat.
Used this way, fell is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fell
- “And so it falls to me to make this important decision. The estate fell to his brother; the kingdom fell into the hands of his rivals.”verb
- “After arguing, they fell to blows.”verb
- “An unguarded expression fell from his lips.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A person who fells trees.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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