pummel
Americanverb (used with object)
-
pummels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pummeled,
past participle, past
-
pummelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
pummeling,
present participle
-
pummelling
present participle (especially British)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pummelsimple
-
pummelssimple
-
have pummeledperfect
-
have pummelledperfect
-
has pummeledperfect
-
has pummelledperfect
-
am pummelingprogressive
-
am pummellingprogressive
-
are pummelingprogressive
-
are pummellingprogressive
-
is pummelingprogressive
-
is pummellingprogressive
-
have been pummelingperfect progressive
-
have been pummellingperfect progressive
-
has been pummelingperfect progressive
-
has been pummellingperfect progressive
Past
-
pummeledsimple
-
pummelledsimple
-
had pummeledperfect
-
had pummelledperfect
-
was pummelingprogressive
-
was pummellingprogressive
-
were pummelingprogressive
-
were pummellingprogressive
-
had been pummelingperfect progressive
-
had been pummellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pummel
First recorded in 1540–50; alteration of pommel
Explanation
The best pummelers in the world are probably boxers, as to pummel means to repeatedly beat someone down, especially with fists. The main sense of pummel is physical, but you can use it figuratively when something is taking a beating. During a stock market crash, the economy is being pummeled. A heavy rain can pummel the earth. If you get three bad math grades in a row, it feels like numbers themselves are pummeling you. When many bad things happen at once, it feels like you're being pummeled by life.
Vocabulary lists containing pummel
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Super Bowl Blowout: Epic Vocab for the Big Game
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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 film’s brilliance comes from Wain and Marino knowing how to pummel the viewer with jokes while measuring each punchline’s individual weight.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
If Knicks fans need me to stand in a public square and pummel me with rotten vegetables, please name the square and vegetable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
This week, investors became very worried that rapidly-advancing AI capabilities offered by companies like Anthropic are going to pummel any company with services that include enterprise software.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
An unusually brutal winter storm is set to pummel more than 160 million Americans from Friday, as a stretched "polar vortex" sends a devastating blast of Arctic air, bringing heavy snows and freezing rains.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
Shame and guilt pummel me, but my anger is real, too.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
And severe weather pummels both the Northeast and West Coast.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
Lethal landslides are common in the area when heavy monsoon rain pummels Myanmar between May and October.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2023
The sheer force of their thousand-pound bodies pummels the dirt track's hazardous slings — but only after first funneling through the narrow cabling of their spindly forelimb ligaments.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2023
The AT pummels hikers with incredibly steep climbs and descents, and even flat sections require near-constant decision-making to navigate an endless gantlet of rocks and roots slippery from frequent rain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2021
Sonia pummels the water with her arms and pushes it behind her with her legs.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
That comes in the wake of yet another record-breaking heat wave that has pummeled the Northern Hemisphere.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Four years after hosting the tournament, they watched their team get pummeled, conceding 10 goals in three games.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
But the production crisis, which has rocked Hollywood and pummeled its workforce, has reached a critical juncture.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
On the ground, Iran’s infrastructure has been pummeled.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
The rain pummeled, swished, pattered, and was over.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada's detention came nearly a year after revelations over massive corruption in flood control projects -- a matter with serious consequences in a country pummelled every year by major typhoons.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
The group pummelled the bot with more than 1,000 prompts to bypass the safeguards and convince Claude they were allowed to test the system for vulnerabilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026
Unusually intense monsoon rains pummelled parts of South and Southeast Asia in November and December, triggering landslides and floods from Indonesia's rainforests to highland plantations in Sri Lanka.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
We saw that again against Chelsea, who pummelled them for an hour before Watkins came on to make it 11 Villa wins in a row.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
I felt as if I were being pummelled by a great fist.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
On a vast beach in Morocco last year, waves were pummeling one of humanity’s oldest plot devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“They’re pummeling us every day,” said a woman pensioner sitting among her friends on benches in a leafy courtyard of a Soviet-era apartment block.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
It was powder-blue pummeling, eight-clap crushing, Westwood wonderful.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
A San Diego man was killed Wednesday morning after a tree fell on him, the third death linked to the storm pummeling Southern California over the holiday, the San Diego Police Department confirmed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025
My heart pounded like drops of rain pummeling down upon the dry earth.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
The heatwaves pummelling Europe this summer will have costly impacts on industries ranging from agriculture to tourism -- but that hasn't stopped stock markets from hitting all-time highs.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
After pummelling a chain of remote Japanese islands, it brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan as it brushed past its northern tip.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The study only looked at data up to 2024, however Emerton said the heatwaves already pummelling Europe this year suggest the trend has been continuing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
“Artificial Angels” captures the pummelling wrongness of internet-assisted living in 2025.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
They were worse the next day and still worse the next, dragging back ready for another gruelling pummelling by the following Saturday.
From The Forward Pass in Football by Elmer Berry
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.
