pellet
Americannoun
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a small, rounded or spherical body, as of food or medicine.
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a small wad or ball of wax, paper, etc., for throwing, shooting, or the like.
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one of a charge of small shot, as for a shotgun.
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a bullet.
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a ball, usually of stone, formerly used as a missile.
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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.
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(in Romanesque architecture) a hemispherical or disklike carved ornament.
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Heraldry. ogress.
verb (used with object)
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to form into pellets; pelletize.
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to hit with pellets.
noun
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a small round ball, esp of compressed matter
a wax pellet
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an imitation bullet used in toy guns
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a piece of small shot
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a stone ball formerly used as a catapult or cannon missile
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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
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a small pill
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a raised area on coins and carved or moulded ornaments
verb
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to strike with pellets
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to make or form into pellets
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pelletsimple
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pelletssimple
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have pelletedperfect
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has pelletedperfect
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am pelletingprogressive
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are pelletingprogressive
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is pelletingprogressive
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have been pelletingperfect progressive
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has been pelletingperfect progressive
Past
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pelletedsimple
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had pelletedperfect
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was pelletingprogressive
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were pelletingprogressive
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had been pelletingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pellet
1325–75; Middle English pelet < Middle French pelote < Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila ball. See pill 1, -et
Explanation
A pellet is a small, rounded piece of something, especially a compressed nugget of some material. Many pets eat food that comes in pellets, including some fish, rabbits, and guinea pigs. You might feed your pet rat pellets each day, or heat your house by burning pellets made of compressed sawdust in a special kind of stove. When it hails or sleets, tiny pellets of ice fall from the sky, and your cousin's BB gun works by shooting tiny metal pellets from its barrel. Pellet is from the Old French pelote, "small ball," which has the Latin pelote, or "ball," as its root.
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 Central Reserve Police Force didn't respond to our questions about the use of pellet guns and the injuries protesters appeared to sustain.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
"We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant's Mossberg pump-action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer," Pirro said.
From Barron's ● May 3, 2026
Patrick Wilson plays one of the nervous teachers who have been issued pellet guns in anticipation of another attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
The pieces appear to be part of a round plastic pellet that was filled with a pinkish powder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
He turned his face away, pulled his shirt over his mouth, and dropped the pellet into the bucket.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
The supplies needed to keep them running - coking coal and iron pellets - are also running low.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Around 20,000 years ago, a cave was home to generations of owls that regularly coughed up pellets containing the bones of their prey.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
Much of the disaster site was covered with small pellets of white foam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Carville said strimmers, electric lawnmowers, slug pellets, cars, cattle-grids and ponds were among the many man-made actions that contribute to hedgehog decline.
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
They settled themselves in some soft moss at the edge of the forest, once they’d checked it for pellets of glass.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
The scientists calculated the balance of nutrients in edible portions of whole wild fish, used within pelleted salmon feed in Norway, compared to the farmed salmon fillets.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
When the grizzly family found the pelleted livestock grain they gorged for about an hour.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 28, 2020
Shrimp are fed a pelleted diet and are raised until they’re the proper size.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 10, 2020
BAC DNA was pelleted by centrifugation at 13,000 r.p.m. and 4 °C for 20 min.
From Nature ● May 8, 2018
He pelleted and tested tracer, igniter, and incendiary compositions; he took his turn at burning out rejects.
From Triplanetary by Smith, E. E. (Edward Elmer)
When monsoon rains start pelleting down once again, they cover themselves with colorful plastic sheets, some laughing, singing and dancing as the water seeps through, leaving them soaking wet.
From US News ● Aug. 12, 2014
She stayed in Cuba four weeks, kept pelleting Castro with the pleas of her contacts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Patera Covers.—In cases where the style of ornament permits of it, patera covers are used instead of pelleting.
From Woodwork Joints How they are Set Out, How Made and Where Used. by Fairham, William
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.
