chisel
Americannoun
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a wedgelike tool with a cutting edge at the end of the blade, often made of steel, used for cutting or shaping wood, stone, etc.
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Astronomy. Chisel, the constellation Caelum.
verb (used with object)
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to cut, shape, or fashion by or as if by carving with a chisel.
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to cheat or swindle (someone).
He chiseled me out of fifty dollars.
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to get (something) by cheating or trickery.
He chiseled fifty dollars out of me.
noun
verb
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to carve (wood, stone, metal, etc) or form (an engraving, statue, etc) with or as with a chisel
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slang to cheat or obtain by cheating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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chiselsimple
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chiselssimple
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have chiseledperfect
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have chiselledperfect
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has chiseledperfect
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has chiselledperfect
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am chiselingprogressive
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am chisellingprogressive
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are chiselingprogressive
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are chisellingprogressive
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is chiselingprogressive
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is chisellingprogressive
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have been chiselingperfect progressive
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have been chisellingperfect progressive
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has been chiselingperfect progressive
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has been chisellingperfect progressive
Past
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chiseledsimple
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chiselledsimple
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had chiseledperfect
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had chiselledperfect
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was chiselingprogressive
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was chisellingprogressive
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were chiselingprogressive
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were chisellingprogressive
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had been chiselingperfect progressive
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had been chisellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chisel
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Anglo-French, variant of Old French cisel, from unattested Vulgar Latin cīsellus, diminutive of unattested cīsus, for Latin caesus, past participle of caedere “to cut,” with -ī- generalized from prefixed derivatives; cf. excide
Explanation
When you carve a statue from a block of marble, you use a tool called a chisel to cut out the shape. Chisel is the name of the tool and also the name of the action. A chisel has a flat, sharp end. To carve using a chisel, you hit the back of it with a hammer or another blunt instrument. Chisel can also mean "to cheat." If someone chisels you out of your allowance, they shaved it away from you bit by bit.
Vocabulary lists containing chisel
Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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On a Pedestal: Marble-ous Words for Sculpture
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
KYIV, Ukraine—It was late January, and an elite Ukrainian team grabbed their tools for a special operation critical to their country’s resistance against Russia: an underwater drone, a hammer and a chisel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
“CMS is continuing to chisel away at higher spending associated with coding intensity,” says Tricia Neuman, executive director for the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
Nonato laid his chisel against the mortar and gingerly began to tap the top of the tool with a hammer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2025
Finally, he was able to chisel out the embedded trunk handle to open it, clambering in and driving his Model Y Long Range S.U.V. five miles to the closet supercharging station.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
“I have only a saw, hammer, chisel, and adze, but we are managing alright,” he reported in his diary.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
One promising option is tungsten carbide, an Earth-abundant material already widely used in industrial machinery, cutting tools, and chisels.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2026
Scientists and roughly 500 volunteers have used chisels, solvents and dental picks to dismantle 10 blocks so far, so who knows what else they might discover after Zed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
He saw others who wanted to take a piece of it, who’d come to the metaphorical mountain with chisels in hand.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2024
Back at Cooper’s dino-shop, work began to clean and reassemble the stegosaurus, with equipment including sand-blasting jets, pneumatic chisels and powerful microscopes.
From BBC ● May 30, 2024
His tools still lay on the worktable: small chisels with which he had been meticulously recarving, reshaping the worn, smooth places on the elaborate staff that the Singer used.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Through years of extraordinary political upheaval, the sound engineer at No. 10 Downing Street has served as a chiseled omen of great change.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Its details are sharply chiseled and fluted, in the Streamline Moderne mode, and they turn what would otherwise be raw construction into lyrical architecture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Larry’s the pragmatic choice, but Luke is the romantic one, down to his handsome, chiseled features right out of a supermarket paperback.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025
Farther down the Strip, I chatted with a convincing Captain America, whose chiseled jawline and sandy blond hair were betrayed only by his height, about 5-foot-10.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
Wickersham, whose full head of silver hair, mustache, and chiseled good looks made him resemble a misplaced Marlboro man, was a rara avis even by Sing Sing standards.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Styles has a lot in common with the King of Rock and Roll: from his chiselled good looks to the particular way he wiggles his hips.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
They show chiselled physiques, striking before‑and‑after images and claims that you can look years younger by following a simple routine.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
What counts as good looking is narrowly defined: chiselled facial features and visible muscles are non-negotiables.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Lithe, with abs chiselled from granite and blond in his hair, he looked like WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes.
From BBC ● May 12, 2024
‘There’s no such thing as “safe” any more,’ she said, her words chiselled into arrows by her anger.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“Looksmaxxing” has men hammering their jawlines, chiseling their own bone structure like Michelangelo with a front-facing camera.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
Zhong likens this to a sculptor chiseling away at marble until the final form emerges.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025
And, after a few years toying around with a spread offense, Harbaugh went back to his roots, chiseling a dominant running attack behind a grisly offensive line.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2024
By reducing the cost of chiseling, Springut reasons, architects can once again embrace the decorative flourishes of carved stone.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2023
Disheartened, I made my way out into the workshop and was greeted by the sounds of a hundred hands busily chiseling wood, chipping stone, and hammering metal.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Somewhere in the city, somebody is chiselling away at a statue of the 74-year-old.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
The team experimented with different carving and chiselling techniques and discovered fire was also an effective way to carve out the inside of the boat.
From BBC ● May 25, 2024
Typically, I’d work at the face, up against the rock, chiselling the coal out.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 8, 2017
We entered frosty courts by a secret hatchway and waved wooden racquets in majestic arcs, a ceremony akin to polar explorers chiselling out ice caves.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 18, 2016
Table and chairs formed the complete furnishing of this dreary apartment, whose only beauty lay in the simple antiquity of its architecture and the characteristic chiselling of the grey piers which supported its quartered roof.
From The Men Who Wrought by Cullum, Ridgwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
