pedal
Americannoun
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pedals
plural
-
a foot-operated lever used to control certain mechanisms, as automobiles, or to play or modify the sounds of certain musical instruments, as pianos, organs, or harps.
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a leverlike part worked by the foot to supply power in various mechanisms, as the bicycle.
-
Music.
-
a foot-operated keyboard, as on an organ or harpsichord.
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any of the keys of such a keyboard.
-
verb (used without object)
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pedals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pedaled,
past participle, past
-
pedalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
pedaling,
present participle
-
pedalling
present participle (especially British)
verb (used with object)
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pedals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pedaled,
past participle, past
-
pedalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
pedaling,
present participle
-
pedalling
present participle (especially British)
adjective
-
of or relating to a foot or the feet.
-
of or relating to a pedal or pedals.
-
using pedals.
a pedal mechanism.
noun
verb
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to propel (a bicycle, boat, etc) by operating the pedals
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(intr) to operate the pedals of an organ, piano, etc, esp in a certain way
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to work (pedals of any kind)
adjective
Usage
What does pedal mean? A pedal is a foot-operated lever that controls some kind of mechanism. The most common kinds of pedals are those on a bicycle, the brake pedal and gas pedal (accelerator) in a car, and the pedals used in musical instruments like pianos and organs. Pedal can also be a verb meaning to operate a pedal, as in You’d better pedal faster! In American English, the past tense is spelled pedaled and the continuous tense is spelled pedaling. In British English, as with many other words, the l is doubled: pedalled and pedalling. Example: When I was a kid, I liked to pedal my bike as fast as I could and then take my feet off the pedals and watch them keep spinning.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pedalsimple
-
pedalssimple
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have pedaledperfect
-
have pedalledperfect
-
has pedaledperfect
-
has pedalledperfect
-
am pedalingprogressive
-
am pedallingprogressive
-
are pedalingprogressive
-
are pedallingprogressive
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is pedalingprogressive
-
is pedallingprogressive
-
have been pedalingperfect progressive
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have been pedallingperfect progressive
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has been pedalingperfect progressive
-
has been pedallingperfect progressive
Past
-
pedaledsimple
-
pedalledsimple
-
had pedaledperfect
-
had pedalledperfect
-
was pedalingprogressive
-
was pedallingprogressive
-
were pedalingprogressive
-
were pedallingprogressive
-
had been pedalingperfect progressive
-
had been pedallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pedal
1605–15; (< French pédale ) < Latin pedālis of the feet. See ped- 2, -al 1
Explanation
Anything you push with your feet to control a machine, vehicle, or instrument is a pedal. When you use a sewing machine, you push the pedal with your foot to make the needle move up and down. When you see the letters ped, something related to the foot might just be afoot. Pedestrians walk around by foot, and a pedicure is when your tootsies get the spa treatment. Those letters don’t always relate to feet, but it does with pedal, the noun or verb. The controls on the floor of your car are pedals, and if you put the pedal to the metal, it means you press as hard as you can on the gas pedal. Woohoo!
Vocabulary lists containing pedal
Body Language: Ped, Pod ("Foot")
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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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:
After grabbing items for dinner at a Trader Joe’s, I puttered home along a main drag with a 35 mph limit, fully pressing the pedal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Riders of legal electrically assisted pedal bikes must be at least 14, and any illegal modification means the bikes qualify as a motor vehicle/moped, requiring registration, a driving licence, tax and insurance.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Across the industry, nearly 1,400 researchers, including Coxon, have signed a statement calling for governments to develop a brake pedal that could be used if needed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The study also found that, when compared with injuries from traditional pedal bikes, e-bike riders suffered more serious and severe injuries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
My heart took off like a car that had its gas pedal mashed to the floor.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
But, because they want to go so fast, some are using gaming pedals to code now with voice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Tesla’s Cybercab doesn’t have pedals or a steering wheel.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
“To facilitate testing and validation of safety systems, a number of Cybercabs are equipped with hardware for manual operation, such as a steering wheel and pedals for acceleration and braking,” Tesla said in the guide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Tesla is about to hold a launch event for the Cybercab, which doesn’t have pedals or a steering wheel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
That was something else Ian Rider had made sure he’d learned...as soon as his legs were long enough to reach the pedals.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
“I think we’ve become accidental pilgrims,” I said as we pedaled our tandem bike near the southern coast of Shikoku island this spring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
"It's a great honour to receive the fantastic prize and I look forward to being pedaled around all of the media studios to air my story," said Mr Can.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
I pedaled by three bros holding hands and singing and city workers cleaning public toilets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2024
On 1 July 2023, as Tour de France riders pedaled out of Bilbao, Spain, toward the French Pyrenees mountains, sports cardiologist Andre La Gerche tuned in from Melbourne, Australia.
From Science Magazine ● May 14, 2024
“By the time you’re done working two shifts, you’ll smell plenty without any help from me. So be sure to wash up,” he called as he pedaled off.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
After covering both islands she flew to her hometown of Anchorage, pedalled along the Pacific coast to Los Angeles, then took Route 66 to Chicago.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
Ms. Nutthawaree hopped on the back and looped her arms around him as he pedalled hard toward what they hoped was safety.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
Covering approximately 100 km each day, Barry pedalled through Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Niger before stalling in N'Djamena, the Chadian capital, shaken from his planned route by an ongoing conflict in Sudan.
From Reuters ● Sep. 28, 2023
Knowing that such nonsense is being pedalled publicly, you cannot help but speculate what Benedict intended by publishing his letter earlier this month.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 20, 2019
The other pedalled its narrow shoulders up and down, stalking the open door.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Stapleton, the former nurse-midwife, was pedaling beside me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
He’d already won a trio of stages and was pedaling away with the red jersey as overall leader.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
You show the video of the guy on the bike pedaling away from ICE agents in Chicago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
When the film opens at Oak Street’s idyllic summer block party, complete with cookouts and kids happily pedaling together on their bikes, he purposefully evokes the atmosphere of the movies he covertly cites.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Cranking the wheel the other way, she started pedaling forward, and the boat quietly slid out of the boathouse.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Now his fate lies in the hands of those such as Camara, who is frenetically pedalling late into the night to make ends meet.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
A legal e-bike , externalmust have pedals and the motor is only there to provide assistance while the rider is pedalling.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
"I'm just kicking myself because I had to stop pedalling with 20 metres to the line. It is what it is."
From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026
As legs can typically produce more power than arms, cyclors have been brought in and static pedalling systems installed on the boats.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024
Eric was squealing louder than ever and pedalling the air with his legs.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
