hurl
Americanverb (used with object)
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hurls,
present (3rd person singular)
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hurled,
past participle, past
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hurling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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hurls,
present (3rd person singular)
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hurled,
past participle, past
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hurling
present participle
-
to throw a missile.
-
Baseball. to pitch a ball.
noun
verb
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(tr) to throw or propel with great force
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(tr) to utter with force; yell
to hurl insults
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to transport or be transported in a driven vehicle
noun
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the act or an instance of hurling
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a ride in a driven vehicle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hurlsimple
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hurlssimple
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have hurledperfect
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has hurledperfect
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am hurlingprogressive
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are hurlingprogressive
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is hurlingprogressive
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have been hurlingperfect progressive
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has been hurlingperfect progressive
Past
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hurledsimple
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had hurledperfect
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was hurlingprogressive
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were hurlingprogressive
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had been hurlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hurl
1175–1225; Middle English hurlen, equivalent to hur- (perhaps akin to hurry ) + -len -le; akin to Low German hurreln to toss, Frisian hurreln to roar (said of the wind), dialectal German hurlen to roll, rumble (said of thunder)
Explanation
When you hurl something, you throw it hard. You might hurl your shoe at a horrible bug if it suddenly scuttled across the floor. If you hurl a rock at a glass window, it will probably break, and if you hurl your trash in the direction of a garbage can, it may or may not land inside. The verb hurl implies some force behind your throw. The earliest English version was hurlen, which in the thirteenth century meant "run against each other or collide." It probably comes from the Germanic root hurr, which is also the root of hurry, and means "rapid motion."
Vocabulary lists containing hurl
"The Treasure of Lemon Brown"
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"My Wonder Horse," Vocabulary from the short story
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"Harbor Me" by Jacqueline Woodson
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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:
The mob was there to accost and hurl insults at 58-year-old Kiai Ashari, the caretaker of the Ndholo Kusumo Islamic boarding school, as he was escorted away by police.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
“He would hurl himself straight as an arrow right into the great roaring grey wall of an oncoming breaker and go clean through it as if it had neither weight nor momentum.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
Moments later his epic 54-yard hurl to Marvin Mims Jr paid off spectacularly, caught deep downfield.
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026
This rapid rearrangement can heat plasma to millions of degrees and hurl energized particles away from the site, creating a solar flare.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 21, 2026
She automatically checked the angry words she wanted to hurl at him.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
The reason anyone who hurls themselves off a mountain for a living might perform such a procedure is a matter of aerodynamics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
While he hurls baseless accusations and complaints in that episode, Funches presents a compelling case against another player, Atlanta Housewife Porsha Williams, at a banishment debate.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026
As usual, Anderson hurls his characters into a collective crisis that gives rise to individual bursts of resistance and reconciliation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
According to Bhamla, if a pitcher hurls a baseball at 100 miles per hour, their hand must also move at that speed during the throwing motion.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 28, 2023
She winds up Like a pitcher And hurls a pomegranate.
From "Neighborhood Odes" by Gary Soto
One star is hurled away, while the other is captured into orbit around the black hole.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Spoiler alert, if you somehow avoided Homer in community college: Nobody, save biblical Job, has had more misery hurled at them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
A little: Those who haven’t read the first 4 will open “The End of the Arab of the Future” and find themselves hurled directly into an unfolding family emergency: Vol.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
Disgusted, McGrath hurled his poles over the safety netting that lined the Stelvio piste, with nearby Swiss team members embracing each other in celebration.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
Benji hurled the ball into the side of the brick house.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
North Korea has recently been hurling criticism at Japan, a former regional colonial power, over what Pyongyang describes as its remilitarisation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Since then, restaurant chains have been hurling discounts and deals at consumers to win them back.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
His first was pure Haaland, the game’s best finisher hurling his big lower body into the net for a violent scoring strike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
When hurling down the ball with a wobbling seam rather than looking to hoop it, some deliveries jag unpredictably off the surface after pitching.
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2026
“Because this game stinks. Mr. Lemoncello just sent a bunch of holograms hurling hieroglyphics after me. He could put somebody’s eye out with those things.”
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
