fill
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make full; put as much as can be held into.
to fill a jar with water.
-
to occupy to the full capacity.
Water filled the basin.
The crowd filled the hall.
-
to supply to an extreme degree or plentifully.
to fill a house with furniture;
to fill the heart with joy.
-
to satisfy fully the hunger of; satiate.
The roast beef filled the diners.
-
to put into a receptacle.
to fill sand into a pail.
-
to be plentiful throughout.
Fish filled the rivers.
-
to extend throughout; pervade completely.
The odor filled the room.
-
to furnish with an occupant.
The landlord filled the vacancy yesterday.
-
to provide (an office or opening) with an incumbent.
The company is eager to fill the controllership.
-
to occupy and perform the duties of (a vacancy, position, post, etc.).
They have already found someone to fill the position.
-
to supply the requirements or contents of (an order), as for goods; execute.
-
to supply (a blank space) with written matter, decorative work, etc.
-
to meet satisfactorily, as requirements.
This book fills a great need.
-
to make up, compound, or otherwise provide the contents of (a medical prescription).
-
to stop up or close (a cavity, hole, etc.).
to fill a tooth.
-
Cooking. to insert a filling into.
to fill cupcakes with custard.
-
Nautical.
-
to distend (a sail) by pressure of the wind so as to impart headway to a vessel.
-
to brace (a yard) so that the sail will catch the wind on its after side.
-
-
to adulterate.
to fill soaps with water.
-
Civil Engineering, Building Trades. to build up the level of (an area) with earth, stones, etc.
verb (used without object)
-
to become full.
The hall filled rapidly.
Our eyes filled with tears.
-
to increase in atmospheric pressure.
a filling cyclone.
-
to become distended, as sails with the wind.
noun
-
a full supply; enough to satisfy want or desire.
to eat one's fill.
-
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.
-
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.
-
the feed and water in the digestive tract of a livestock animal, especially that consumed before marketing.
verb phrase
-
fill out
-
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.
-
to become larger, fuller, or rounder, as the figure.
The children have begun to fill out since I saw them last.
-
-
fill up
-
to fill completely.
to fill up a glass;
to fill up a fuel tank.
-
to become completely filled.
The riverbed filled up as a result of the steady rains.
-
-
fill in
-
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.
-
to complete by adding detail, as a design or drawing.
to fill in a sketch with shadow.
-
to substitute for.
to fill in for a colleague who is ill.
-
to fill with some material.
to fill in a crack with putty.
-
Informal. to supply (someone) with information.
Please fill me in on the morning news.
-
-
fill away
-
to fall off the wind and proceed on a board.
-
to brace the yards, so that sails that have been aback will stand full.
-
idioms
-
fill and stand on, (of a sailing vessel) to proceed on a tack after being hove to or halted facing the wind; fill away.
-
fill the bill. bill.
verb
-
(also intr) to make or become full
to fill up a bottle
the bath fills in two minutes
-
to occupy the whole of
the party filled two floors of the house
-
to plug (a gap, crevice, cavity, etc)
-
to meet (a requirement or need) satisfactorily
-
to cover (a page or blank space) with writing, drawing, etc
-
to hold and perform the duties of (an office or position)
-
to appoint or elect an occupant to (an office or position)
-
building trades to build up (ground) with fill
-
(also intr) to swell or cause to swell with wind, as in manoeuvring the sails of a sailing vessel
-
to increase the bulk of by adding an inferior substance
-
poker to complete (a full house, etc) by drawing the cards needed
-
to put together the necessary materials for (a prescription or order)
-
informal to serve or perform adequately
noun
-
material such as gravel, stones, etc, used to bring an area of ground up to a required level
-
the quantity needed to satisfy one
to eat your fill
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fillsimple
-
fillssimple
-
have filledperfect
-
has filledperfect
-
am fillingprogressive
-
are fillingprogressive
-
is fillingprogressive
-
have been fillingperfect progressive
-
has been fillingperfect progressive
Past
-
filledsimple
-
had filledperfect
-
was fillingprogressive
-
were fillingprogressive
-
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:
Although it was easy for a resident of Piscataquis County to pick their four delegates, someone in Portland had 149 different slots to fill.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Neither would be enough to fill the projected shortfall.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Those requirements dictate what California teenagers learn long before they even fill out an application.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The curtailments suggest it won’t take long to fill the new pipelines, East Daley’s Wilson said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
An empty glove, worthless without a hand to fill it.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Even as he holds space for my husband, Eric affectionately fills his own.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
A clown paints children's faces, music fills the air, as families spread picnic carpets across the grass.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
How should we think about the information that fills the internet and organizes the way we live?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
This study finally fills in that missing piece.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
A distant echo of Lita’s voice fills my mind.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
I’d rather see an empty-feeling shot than something filled out by AI — at least the material’s quality could speak for itself.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
He said the moment was filled with "immense emotion" as he expressed "infinite gratitude" and "unwavering support" to their families.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
They’ve put in place the pillars for their future, though they do still happen to have a LeBron-sized hole at forward that isn’t going to be filled by LeBron.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The analysts said that the veterinarians they surveyed filled 11% of prescriptions through Chewy, with companies like PetMed and Vetsource accounting for a smaller share.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
The lion keeper filled them in on the details of what they had missed, actions and words.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
The restrictions mean, from Thursday, hosepipes should not be used for watering gardens or allotments, cleaning cars, filling paddling pools or swimming pools, or cleaning windows.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
You can even take it a step further and whip your goat cheese with cream cheese, salt and fresh herbs for a tangier and more aromatic filling.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Remake” retraces Adrian’s childhood while filling in the details of the director’s life after “Photographic Memory,” including brain surgery and the dissolution of his 24-year marriage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
The cost of filling up at the gas station is not the only problem, either.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
It was almost as if he thought she was still in there and would come running out one day, filling the house with her wild, uninhibited giggling.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
