felt
1 Americanverb
noun
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a nonwoven fabric of wool, fur, or hair, matted together by heat, moisture, and great pressure.
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any article made of this material, as a hat.
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any matted fabric or material, as a mat of asbestos fibers, rags, or old paper, used for insulation and in construction.
adjective
verb (used with object)
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to make into felt; mat or press together.
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to cover with or as with felt.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a matted fabric of wool, hair, etc, made by working the fibres together under pressure or by heat or chemical action
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( as modifier )
a felt hat
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any material, such as asbestos, made by a similar process of matting
verb
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(tr) to make into or cover with felt
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(intr) to become matted
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of felt
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English; cognate with German Filz; see filter
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:
While private-equity firms typically hold investments for much longer periods, the team felt the business was already close to camera-ready when the firm bought it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
He said he had raised that incident when he first became an MSP because he felt the "targeting of politicians you might expect to see in places like Mexico is happening in Scotland".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
According to Prince-Bythewood, helming “The Woman King” felt like the thing she’d been working toward her entire career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
I found myself surprisingly moved by the meditative activities and programming, even if it felt silly at first to be constructing a mandala with leaves and twigs in the middle of a workweek.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The beads felt even smaller than they looked, but I managed to thread five— cherry red and two shades of pink.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The same colors appeared on my son’s palms, as he was most taken with the dynamics of uncapping and recapping the felts.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2017
May 15 is Straw Hat Day, when people used to toss off their winter felts and don spring hats.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2017
The exterior is cold and raw, but in the rooms the industrial feel is softened with grey felts and fabrics.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2016
All his I thinks, I believeds and I felts could sound self-effacing.
From Newsweek ● Apr. 10, 2015
The men barely condescend to groom their horses; they hunt, drink tea or brandy, stretch themselves out on felts, and smoke or sleep.
From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Hell, Xavier Hommaire de
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.
