hurtle

American  

[hur-tl] / ˈhɜr tl /

verb (used without object)

• hurtles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hurtled,
  past participle,  past
• hurtling
  present participle

1. to rush violently; move with great speed.

   The car hurtled down the highway.

   Synonyms:

   shoot, rush, race, fly, speed

2. to move or go noisily or resoundingly, as with violent or rapid motion.

   The sound was deafening, as tons of snow hurtled down the mountain.

3. Archaic. to strike together or against something; collide.

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verb (used with object)

• hurtles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hurtled,
  past participle,  past
• hurtling
  present participle

1. to drive violently; fling; dash.

2. Archaic. to dash against; collide with.

noun

1. Archaic. clash; collision; shock; clatter.

hurtle British  

/ ˈhɜːtəl /

verb

1. to project or be projected very quickly, noisily, or violently

2. rare (intr) to collide or crash

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• hurtling
  present
• hurtled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hurtle
  simple
• hurtles
  simple
• have hurtled
  perfect
• has hurtled
  perfect
• am hurtling
  progressive
• are hurtling
  progressive
• is hurtling
  progressive
• have been hurtling
  perfect progressive
• has been hurtling
  perfect progressive

Past

• hurtled
  simple
• had hurtled
  perfect
• was hurtling
  progressive
• were hurtling
  progressive
• had been hurtling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hurtle
  simple
• will have hurtled
  perfect
• will be hurtling
  progressive
• will have been hurtling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hurtle

1175–1225; Middle English hurtle, equivalent to hurt ( en ) ( see hurt) + -le -le

Explanation

If you forcefully throw or fling something, you hurtle it. In a food fight, you may hurtle chocolate pudding across the room, but be prepared for someone to launch peas at you in retaliation. Duck! The verb hurtle also means to move rapidly, often with a rushing sound, and sometimes with seeming lack of control. If you are driving on wet, slippery roads at night, try not to drive fast and skid out of control — if you do, your car may seem to hurtle through the darkness! By the way, even though we can't feel it, the earth hurtles through space at approximately 67,000 miles per hour as it orbits the sun.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hurtle hurtles hurtled hurtling

As both companies hurtle toward an IPO, the philosophical and personal differences between their leadership have metastasized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026

The accident, which saw the picture-postcard 19th-century Gloria tramway hurtle into a building after careering off the rails, shocked the Portuguese capital, laying bare fears over the safety of the popular yet ageing tourist attraction.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025

During the chaotic period the Sun tries to reduce its complexity and violence spills out, as bits of the Sun hurtle toward the Earth.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2025

The court as a whole and the two concurrences hurtle pell-mell toward making it virtually impossible for plaintiffs like Mexico to successfully plead their claims.

From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2025

My fears hurtle to the front of my mind.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

Hall could be heard exclaiming, as the unusual-looking raccoon hurtles across a pavement and up some nearby steps.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

For public companies, so-called “related-party transactions” are publicly disclosed in regulatory filings, but Altman’s personal investments remain opaque as OpenAI hurtles towards a public listing later this year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

A few months and one tutorial from Anthropic’s Claude AI model later, Marks’ latest investment memo has the header “AI hurtles ahead.”

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

We come to champion her as the streamlined narrative hurtles toward its shock finale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2025

At the same time, Hammie hurtles out of sight, her hoverboard nothing more than her engine’s bright red sparks of fire propelling her forward.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Pilot Jakob Mandlbauer was stretchered off after the bob hurtled down the track for a good 30 seconds on its side.

From Barron's ● Feb. 21, 2026

Firetrucks hurtled by, forgoing those burning homes believed to be lost causes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2026

The pace has been breathless, leaving allies and opponents alike struggling to catch up as the US diplomatic bandwagon hurtled from issue to issue.

From BBC ● May 16, 2025

She hurtled through the air most weeks as Lynda Carter’s stunt double on the hit television series “Wonder Woman” and mimed Ms. Carter’s leggy lope.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2024

Both carts hurtled onward at breakneck speed, a wall of rock on one side of the narrowing road and a large tree on the other.

From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook

Is a life spent constantly looking backward instead of hurtling forward even worth grieving?

From Salon ● May 30, 2026

A sport built to the glory of the internal combustion engine and propelled by the roar of the V-12 was hurtling into an era of electric vehicles and corporate responsibility.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

“This media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete,” Russini wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026

And so the same peloton will be hurtling along the cobbles a couple of months before gliding through the sunflowers of a French summer.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026

The Witchlings yelled, “VIENTO!” in unison, stopping and picking their hands up and over the river, sending the Nightbeast hurtling into the mountains.

From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega

Related Words

• collide
• lunge
• scoot