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
-
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:
In an effort to fill the gap, businesses have focused their advertising efforts on the domestic market.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
“This could fill an enormous gap in our knowledge of protein structures that can’t be crystallized or are too small for today’s cryo-EM. And it will be revolutionary for cryo-ET.”
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
While his paintings now fill galleries, Hodges himself would rather remain out of view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
The revolving door is driving up expenses for hospitals that spend millions to recruit staff and fill gaps, and increasing costs for patients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
She walked up to the pool to fill her water bottle and pick more peas for dinner.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
The complex fills a city block in the financial district with an office skyscraper, the high-rise Sheraton Grand hotel and a shopping center that is home to a Uniqlo and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
And the diesel tax is one of the taxes that fills the Highway Trust Fund.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Luna, Phoenix, Queen” fills out the stories surrounding Barr’s theft, moving back in time to depict the bond between Dava and Svetlana, which endured despite Dava’s unwillingness to leave her husband.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
"This valour by Smit fills us with pride.... He is currently undergoing treatment," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
It begins to drizzle, and the smell of wet dirt fills the air.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
Both are indelibly So Cal Books, filled with Fontana, East Hollywood, Santa Ana, Los Feliz, and San Bernardino, and the readers were from all these places.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
In Kawasaki, on the southern outskirts of Tokyo, hundreds of machines at a venue operated by the specialist chain Benex are filled with bottles of soda, bags of sweets, and detergent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
An animal rights group is urging Crystal Palace to retire their live bald eagle mascot with immediate effect, saying a "bright stadium filled with boisterous fans is no place for animals".
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Clay & Buck, after all, took over the time slot that was previously filled by Limbaugh, the OG microphone-as-megaphone gasbag.
From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2026
Her eyes are filled with the thousand questions she can’t ask out loud.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
After six weeks of filling in as lead NFL game analyst for CBS Sports, Watt has reached a multi-year agreement to continue alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz in the network’s top broadcast booth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
That’s $1.27 higher than at this time last year, and it means that filling up a 14-gallon gas tank now costs about $60 on average.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
As well as Fleming and McCullum filling the head coach roles for the men's national teams, England's selector, Marcus North, is Australian.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Fueled by severe drought linked to El Niño, fires are sweeping through parts of Brazil, filling cities with smoke and threatening forests already damaged by previous fire seasons.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
Ratwin launched herself overboard to catch fish, eventually filling a bucket, each fish bearing a small set of tooth marks.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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