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Synonyms

pellet

American  
[pel-it] / ˈpɛl ɪt /

noun

  1. a small, rounded or spherical body, as of food or medicine.

  2. a small wad or ball of wax, paper, etc., for throwing, shooting, or the like.

  3. one of a charge of small shot, as for a shotgun.

  4. a bullet.

  5. a ball, usually of stone, formerly used as a missile.

  6. Also called cast.  Ornithology. a small, roundish mass of matter regurgitated by certain predatory birds, consisting of the indigestible remains, as the fur, feathers, and bones, of the prey.

  7. (in Romanesque architecture) a hemispherical or disklike carved ornament.

  8. Heraldry. ogress.

verb (used with object)

  1. to form into pellets; pelletize.

  2. to hit with pellets.

pellet British  
/ ˈpɛlɪt /

noun

  1. a small round ball, esp of compressed matter

    a wax pellet

    1. an imitation bullet used in toy guns

    2. a piece of small shot

  3. a stone ball formerly used as a catapult or cannon missile

  4. Also called: cast.   casting.  ornithol a mass of undigested food, including bones, fur, feathers, etc, that is regurgitated by certain birds, esp birds of prey

  5. a small pill

  6. a raised area on coins and carved or moulded ornaments

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to strike with pellets

  2. to make or form into pellets

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • pelletlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of pellet

1325–75; Middle English pelet < Middle French pelote < Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila ball. See pill 1, -et

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.

Goodnough’s team took delivery of Cache’s reactor and pellet storage system just last week, and has already begun evaluating how well it can heat a single building.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

The resulting plastic pellet could then be removed every few dozen washes and thrown away with general waste.

From Science Daily • Dec. 22, 2025

The fim said trading was boosted by the performance of its flexible generation, pellet production and biomass operations.

From BBC • Dec. 11, 2025

Barbecue pellet company Bear Mountain BBQ announced Duarte’s death on Tuesday in a joint statement shared to his Instagram page.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025

The pellet had broken one of the bones and Mom had done surgery to mend it.

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold

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.