feel
Americanverb (used with object)
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feels,
present (3rd person singular)
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felt,
past participle, past
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feeling
present participle
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to perceive or examine by touch.
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to have a sensation of (something), other than by sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
to feel a toothache.
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to find or pursue (one's way) by touching, groping, or cautious moves.
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to be or become conscious of.
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to be emotionally affected by.
to feel one's disgrace keenly.
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to experience the effects of.
The whole region felt the storm.
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to have a particular sensation or impression of (often used reflexively and usually followed by an adjunct or complement).
to feel oneself slighted.
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to have a general or thorough conviction of; think; believe.
I feel he's guilty.
verb (used without object)
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feels,
present (3rd person singular)
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felt,
past participle, past
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feeling
present participle
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to have perception by touch or by any nerves of sensation other than those of sight, hearing, taste, and smell.
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to make examination by touch; grope.
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to perceive a state of mind or a condition of body.
to feel happy; to feel well.
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to have a sensation of being.
to feel warm.
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to make itself perceived or apparent; seem.
How does it feel to be rich?
noun
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feels
plural
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a quality of an object that is perceived by feeling or touching.
the soft feel of cotton.
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a sensation of something felt; a vague mental impression or feeling.
a feel of winter; a feel of sadness in the air.
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the sense of touch.
soft to the feel.
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native ability or acquired sensitivity.
to have a feel for what is right.
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Informal. an act or instance of touching with the hand or fingers.
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Slang: Vulgar. an act or instance of feeling up.
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Informal. feels, strong, often positive feelings: I have so many feels right now.
That song gives me feels.
I have so many feels right now.
verb phrase
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feel up to to feel or be able to; be capable of.
He didn't feel up to going to the theater so soon after his recent illness.
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feel out to attempt to ascertain (the nature of a situation, someone's attitude, etc.) by indirect or subtle means.
Why not feel out the other neighbors' opinions before you make a complaint.
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feel for
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to feel sympathy for or compassion toward; empathize with.
I know you're disappointed and upset, and I feel for you.
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Southeastern Pennsylvania and Maryland. to have a liking or desire for.
If you feel for more pie, just help yourself.
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feel up to fondle or touch (someone) in a sexual manner.
idioms
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cop a feel, to touch another person's body sexually, often in a quick and surreptitious way.
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feel like,
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to have a desire for; be favorably disposed to.
I don't feel like going out tonight. Do you feel like a movie?
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to think; have the opinion (often used to soften the tone of discourse).
I feel like this is the only solution in this case.
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to have a particular impression; believe (used to express emotional sentiments).
I feel like she doesn't love me anymore.
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feel no pain. pain.
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feel like oneself, to be in one's usual frame of mind or state of health: Also feel oneself.
She hasn't been feeling like herself since the accident.
verb
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to perceive (something) by touching
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to have a physical or emotional sensation of (something)
to feel heat
to feel anger
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(tr) to examine (something) by touch
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(tr) to find (one's way) by testing or cautious exploration
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(copula) to seem or appear in respect of the sensation given
I feel tired
it feels warm
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to have an indistinct, esp emotional conviction; sense (esp in the phrase feel in one's bones )
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to show sympathy or compassion (towards)
I feel for you in your sorrow
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to believe, think, or be of the opinion (that)
he feels he must resign
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slang to pass one's hands over the sexual organs of
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to have an inclination (for something or doing something)
I don't feel like going to the pictures
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to be fit and sure of oneself
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(usually used with a negative or in a question) to be fit enough for (something or doing something)
I don't feel up to going out tonight
noun
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the act or an instance of feeling, esp by touching
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the quality of or an impression from something perceived through feeling
the house has a homely feel about it
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the sense of touch
the fabric is rough to the feel
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an instinctive aptitude; knack
she's got a feel for this sort of work
Usage
When the verb feel is used in the sense "to think or believe," it typically implies believing or having an opinion on the basis of emotion or intuition, even in circumstances unsupported by much real evidence. Although some usage experts object, such use is well established in English and can be traced as far back as Middle English. When feel is used specifically to express a subjective impression, it is often used with as if, as though, or that and followed by a full sentence: I felt as if my world had come to an end. He feels as though it is always raining. I feel that things will get better now. More informally, feel can be used without as if/as though/that : I feel he's guilty. And a full sentence does not have to follow: I felt his answer to be impolite. In the same sense of "to think or believe," an alternative phrase feel like is found in informal or casual speech. This use of feel like typically expresses an opinion or emotional sentiment with a softened or tentative tone: I feel like nothing is getting done here. I feel like he is just too arrogant. Though increasingly common, use of the phrase feel like has been criticized as lazy thinking that ignores real evidence, while avoiding confrontation and debate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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feelsimple
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feelssimple
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have feltperfect
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has feltperfect
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am feelingprogressive
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are feelingprogressive
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is feelingprogressive
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have been feelingperfect progressive
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has been feelingperfect progressive
Past
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feltsimple
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had feltperfect
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was feelingprogressive
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were feelingprogressive
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had been feelingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of feel
First recorded before 900; Middle English felen, Old English fēlan; cognate with Old Saxon fōlian, German fühlen; akin to Old Norse falma “to grope”; see fumble
Explanation
If you put your hand on someone's arm, they will feel your touch; if you give them a piece of really bad news, they will feel sad. Feel means to be aware of a physical or emotional sensation. Feel is most often used as a verb, meaning to physically touch or grope something or to be conscious of something emotionally. There's also a noun form of feel, which describes an awareness of something or the physical property of something, like in the sentences, "This place has the feel of a palace," or "She told me it was cotton, but it has the feel of silk."
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:
“People feel like they have to toil away harder in order to make sure they don’t get fired,” said Angie Callen, an executive coach and author of “Scary Good: Discovering Life Beyond the Sunday Scaries.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Of course “The Social Reckoning” arrives too late to feel revolutionary; it would be late even if it depicted something that happened last week.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
"That's why we feel that as well as human medical records, pet medical records need to be examined for clusters of rare illnesses," Pete added.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Consumers are still spending, but they don’t necessarily feel great about it.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 11, 2026
White men move, gather, testing a gun’s weight, its feel.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Bob Lang, founder of the trading service Explosive Options, said that even as investors ride earnings optimism, he feels that markets are “extremely complacent” right now.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 11, 2026
The fashions are what the fashions are, and yet over and over it feels like, really, he could have written this yesterday.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
“It’s kind of week to week in terms of how he feels, but I would say it’s more likely that we do not start his clock next week,” McVay said after practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
"It feels like I will never pay it off, so it's something that I'm kind of just sucking up until the loan is written off," she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
There’s a stillness, a silence, that feels heavy and tight.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
One Legoland visitor, who came with her children from Cornwall, said the sudden evacuation felt "surreal".
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
“My social media routine has slowly changed over the last year or so, as I’ve felt more anxiety around it,” Sydney Graham, a sewing-pattern designer, told me over email.
From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2026
I’ve walked into plenty of busy restaurants where the prevailing atmosphere suggested human error was the expectation rather than the exception, and a kiosk felt like a little gift.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
Prebula, 43, saw a rare opportunity for his 4-square-mile city, which has a large Black population and has long felt overlooked in Solano County.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Not only was he vulnerable for the first time in six years, but with every passing moment, it felt as if the life were being sucked from his bones.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
It’s difficult to shake the feeling that something has frayed in our public interactions since the pandemic.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
I thought of my father, who hated every boat he ever owned—a feeling that went both ways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
“I feel great. Let’s keep feeling like that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
A healthier lifestyle did not significantly reduce the additional health risks linked to feeling lonely.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Seconds tick by, each one feeling like nine hundred.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
