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
-
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:
Though it is yet to be formally named, scientists have nicknamed the tiny spider "ballista", after the ancient weapon used to hurl stones in battle.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 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
They can also hurl massive amounts of plasma and high-energy particles into space, creating solar storms that travel across the solar system.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 13, 2026
All moved slowly to the black grating where down it rushed, to be carried to the river, which would hurl it into the sea.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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 Nicola, Davidtz hurls herself into a hot-blooded, scenery-chomping performance in which her cheekbones and nerves get harsher as the film goes on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025
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
Thunder and lightning are caused when Zeus hurls his thunderbolt.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
In an unprecedented rush of emergency fundraising, boosters hurled down an extra $20 million to keep their stars—and, just as importantly, keep them out of Kiffin’s clutches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
One star is hurled away, while the other is captured into orbit around the black hole.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
Last week, Letterman visited Colbert’s show, where both men took to the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater and hurled CBS property off the ledge.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 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
The rat raised his cutlass in both claws, but, before he could strike, Constance had hurled the net over him.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The storyline is inscrutable, but Walters displays real range, gazing forlornly in the rain, hurling dishes at a wall, grinning and giving high-fives when a family takes him bowling.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
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
A video widely circulated online showed a number of people, including one wielding a hurling stick, confronted the attacker until police officers arrived at the scene.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
It wasn’t like the battles in the Oxford claybeds, hurling lumps of mud at the brickburners’ children.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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.
