fill
Americanverb (used with object)
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fills,
present (3rd person singular)
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filled,
past participle, past
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filling
present participle
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to make full; put as much as can be held into.
to fill a jar with water.
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to occupy to the full capacity.
Water filled the basin.
The crowd filled the hall.
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to supply to an extreme degree or plentifully.
to fill a house with furniture;
to fill the heart with joy.
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to satisfy fully the hunger of; satiate.
The roast beef filled the diners.
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to put into a receptacle.
to fill sand into a pail.
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to be plentiful throughout.
Fish filled the rivers.
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to extend throughout; pervade completely.
The odor filled the room.
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to furnish with an occupant.
The landlord filled the vacancy yesterday.
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to provide (an office or opening) with an incumbent.
The company is eager to fill the controllership.
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to occupy and perform the duties of (a vacancy, position, post, etc.).
They have already found someone to fill the position.
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to supply the requirements or contents of (an order), as for goods; execute.
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to supply (a blank space) with written matter, decorative work, etc.
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to meet satisfactorily, as requirements.
This book fills a great need.
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to make up, compound, or otherwise provide the contents of (a medical prescription).
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to stop up or close (a cavity, hole, etc.).
to fill a tooth.
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Cooking. to insert a filling into.
to fill cupcakes with custard.
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Nautical.
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to distend (a sail) by pressure of the wind so as to impart headway to a vessel.
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to brace (a yard) so that the sail will catch the wind on its after side.
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to adulterate.
to fill soaps with water.
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Civil Engineering, Building Trades. to build up the level of (an area) with earth, stones, etc.
verb (used without object)
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fills,
present (3rd person singular)
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filled,
past participle, past
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filling
present participle
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to become full.
The hall filled rapidly.
Our eyes filled with tears.
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to increase in atmospheric pressure.
a filling cyclone.
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to become distended, as sails with the wind.
noun
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a full supply; enough to satisfy want or desire.
to eat one's fill.
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an amount of something sufficient for filling; charge.
The brigade had only one quarter of a fill of fuel.
He begged a fill of tobacco for his pipe.
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Civil Engineering, Building Trades. a quantity of earth, stones, etc., for building up the level of an area of ground.
These houses were built on fill.
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the feed and water in the digestive tract of a livestock animal, especially that consumed before marketing.
verb phrase
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fill out
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to complete (a document, list, etc.) by supplying missing or desired information.
It takes about 35 minutes to fill out the forms for hospital admission.
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to become larger, fuller, or rounder, as the figure.
The children have begun to fill out since I saw them last.
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fill up
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to fill completely.
to fill up a glass;
to fill up a fuel tank.
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to become completely filled.
The riverbed filled up as a result of the steady rains.
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fill in
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to supply missing or desired information.
He suggested you fill in the facts of your business experience.
For each sentence, fill in the blank with the correct word.
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to complete by adding detail, as a design or drawing.
to fill in a sketch with shadow.
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to substitute for.
to fill in for a colleague who is ill.
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to fill with some material.
to fill in a crack with putty.
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Informal. to supply (someone) with information.
Please fill me in on the morning news.
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fill away
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to fall off the wind and proceed on a board.
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to brace the yards, so that sails that have been aback will stand full.
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idioms
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fill and stand on, (of a sailing vessel) to proceed on a tack after being hove to or halted facing the wind; fill away.
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fill the bill. bill.
verb
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(also intr) to make or become full
to fill up a bottle
the bath fills in two minutes
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to occupy the whole of
the party filled two floors of the house
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to plug (a gap, crevice, cavity, etc)
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to meet (a requirement or need) satisfactorily
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to cover (a page or blank space) with writing, drawing, etc
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to hold and perform the duties of (an office or position)
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to appoint or elect an occupant to (an office or position)
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building trades to build up (ground) with fill
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(also intr) to swell or cause to swell with wind, as in manoeuvring the sails of a sailing vessel
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to increase the bulk of by adding an inferior substance
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poker to complete (a full house, etc) by drawing the cards needed
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to put together the necessary materials for (a prescription or order)
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informal to serve or perform adequately
noun
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material such as gravel, stones, etc, used to bring an area of ground up to a required level
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the quantity needed to satisfy one
to eat your fill
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fillsimple
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fillssimple
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have filledperfect
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has filledperfect
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am fillingprogressive
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are fillingprogressive
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is fillingprogressive
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have been fillingperfect progressive
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has been fillingperfect progressive
Past
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filledsimple
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had filledperfect
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was fillingprogressive
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were fillingprogressive
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had been fillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fill
First recorded before 900; Middle English fillen, fullen, fellen, Old English fyllan; cognate with German füllen, Gothic fulljan “to make full”; see origin at full 1
Explanation
When you fill something, you add to it until it's full, or has enough. When your car's almost out of gas, you have to fill the tank at a gas station. You can fill a bathtub with hot water and bubbles, but there's also a figurative way to fill: "Scary movies fill me with anxiety," or "Traveling fills me with a sense of adventure." When the smell of chopped raw onions fills the air in your kitchen, your eyes might reflexively fill with tears. When fill is a noun, it means "something that fills a space."
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:
Tourists fill the arrivals lounge at the airport each day, then head to the pristine beaches, or to catch glimpses of sloths in the rainforest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Curtis, a 68-year-old attorney, was appointed by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in the spring of 2025 to fill the position vacated by two previous registrars who resigned for health reasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
People are being encouraged to report any sightings of barn owls across Northern Ireland, particularly in the west, to help fill in gaps in the records and even help protect important breeding areas.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Graham entered politics just six weeks ago, when she was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by the sudden death of her brother, Lindsey Graham.
From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026
Gingersnipes’s eyes widened as she understood that this was her job now—a fact that seemed to fill her with pride and panic all at once.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
On the first, the most consistent advice Navarro has received is to make sure your leadership team fills out your weaknesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Water is soft but strong: There could be an intense hurricane or flood, but it’s also adaptable and pliable; it fills a space. Tai chi is water-like that way.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
On the walls where gang members in El Salvador once marked their turf, urban artists are now creating large murals in a traveling festival that fills the streets of the Central American country with color.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella celebrated her rescue on social media, describing it as "news which fills us with hope".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Warm, humid air fills my nostrils—nothing like the hot, dry air of Santa Fe.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
On June 17, 366 days later, she filled the Accor Arena, which houses roughly 20,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
LegalShield also found that 36% of parents had made sure that their young adult children over 18 had a power of attorney filled out.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Companies that once filled warehouses with computers to earn Bitcoin - a process known as mining - are now using that computing power for AI.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
As a popular college creative writing professor who’d filled up in-person sections every term for 25 years, I worried I was too much of a Luddite to learn new cyber tricks.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Holland in 1914, like the rest of Europe, was mobilizing for war, and the streets of Haarlem were suddenly filled with young men in uniform.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
With Dolly Parton's "Jolene" filling the night air, fans of the late country music icon laid flowers at a Tennessee statue of the singer who changed their US state forever.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
One popular newspaper in Russia, Izvestia, said last week that petrol was only available at 28% of Russian filling stations.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Fund managers and analysts say their calendars are filling up with meetings with companies eager to test investor appetite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
According to a report by the National Bank of Ukraine, 4% of the country's filling stations have been damaged or destroyed, but the impact on the market has been small.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The glass from the Mirror’s frame crashed to the floor as the same green fog they’d seen at the Red Hood’s cottage burst out in every direction, quickly filling the room to capacity.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
