corral
Americannoun
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corrals
plural
-
an enclosure or pen for horses, cattle, etc.
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a circular enclosure formed by wagons during an encampment, as by covered wagons crossing the North American plains in the 19th century, for defense against attack.
verb (used with object)
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corrals,
present (3rd person singular)
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corralled,
past participle, past
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corralling
present participle
-
to confine in or as if in a corral.
-
Informal.
-
to seize; capture.
-
to collect, gather, or garner.
to corral votes.
-
-
to form (wagons) into a corral.
noun
-
an enclosure for confining cattle or horses
-
(formerly) a defensive enclosure formed by a ring of covered wagons
verb
-
to drive into and confine in or as in a corral
-
informal to capture
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
corralsimple
-
corralssimple
-
have corralledperfect
-
has corralledperfect
-
am corrallingprogressive
-
are corrallingprogressive
-
is corrallingprogressive
-
have been corrallingperfect progressive
-
has been corrallingperfect progressive
Past
-
corralledsimple
-
had corralledperfect
-
was corrallingprogressive
-
were corrallingprogressive
-
had been corrallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of corral
1575–85; < Spanish < Late Latin *currāle enclosure for carts, equivalent to Latin curr ( us ) wagon, cart (derivative of currere to run) + -āle, neuter of -ālis -al 1
Explanation
A corral is a pen for horses, cows, or other livestock. If your sheep get out of the corral, you'll have to take the dogs out to help you round them up again. The word corral comes either from the Spanish word corro, which means ring, or from the Old Portuguese word curral, meaning pen or enclosure. As a verb, corral means to gather up or collect. If you're in charge of the big library book sale, you'll have to corral lots of people into helping you. If you make a defensive circle with wagons or other vehicles, you have also corralled the wagons.
Vocabulary lists containing corral
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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:
Mopping up: Neutralizing antibodies effectively corral HIV so there is less virus circulating in the body's blood supply.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Frederick Weyerhaeuser, a German immigrant, brought order to Wisconsin’s pineries after the Civil War by using river booms to corral and sort the thousands of logs floated down to sawmills each spring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Tovar reached before Freeman could corral the ball and get it to Klein at first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026
Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, she described how "in many cases" social media companies are "like the wild west and trying to corral it and control it can be incredibly difficult".
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
She was leaning against the corral gate with her ears pointed at him, alert.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
Contractors will use helicopters and other vehicles to drive the horses into a large catch pen with holding corrals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Multiple buildings stand on the property, including three separate guesthouses, a 5,500-square-foot movie theater with a stage, several barns, animal shelter facilities, corrals, and a maintenance shop.
From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: This leather-clad tray charges two devices and corrals your useful clutter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
Alongside survey work, the women help villagers access government insurance schemes for their livestock and promote the use of predator‑proof corrals - stone or mesh enclosures that protect animals at night.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
Not of the crowded corrals, but of the pretty West Side neighborhoods where wealthier Mexican families lived, their houses painted in yellows and oranges and pinks.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
And so the first hawk, Hamish, was corralled into service.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
When Deandre Ayton blocked a shot at the rim with 7:18 remaining in the second quarter Friday, LeBron James corralled the rebound and pushed the ball up the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026
Unsettled, they tried to rush out after the event but were corralled to flank Gorka in a photo op.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2026
Among the arguments corralled by Mr. Scharf for sending humans to other planets is the suggestion that it would advance scientific discovery, help us figure out “human-machine coexistence” and perhaps improve government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Pomp and I were pleased to discover that Vishnoo was yet uneaten, and we spent the hours of our voyage reclined, with the tortoise corralled between us.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
In contrast, making changes to Google’s bigger Pro models requires corralling much more of Google’s resources.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Up to now, nanoscale corralling has only been achieved for photons and electrons; this study is the first demonstration that atoms themselves can be corralled in a similar way.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 11, 2025
For years, the environmental movement, which played such a pivotal role corralling American dam building, was focused more on improving automobile fuel economy and promoting electric vehicles than reducing the total amount of driving.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2024
Or it may hint that this plant is ready to swamp the neighborhood — consider corralling it in a pot for a year.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Mia sprayed the counter and swept the sponge across it, corralling crumbs into the sink.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
