sickle
Americannoun
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sickles
plural
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an implement for cutting grain, grass, etc., consisting of a curved, hooklike blade mounted in a short handle.
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Astronomy. Sickle, a group of stars in the constellation Leo, likened to this implement for its curved, sickle-like shape.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sickle
First recorded before 1000; Middle English sikel, Old English sicol; cognate with Dutch zikkel, German Sichel, all ultimately derived from Latin secula, equivalent to sec(āre) “to cut” + -ula -ule
Explanation
A sickle is a tool with a handle and a curved metal blade that workers use for trimming grass or harvesting crops. Put a hammer next to a sickle and boom, there’s the symbol for communism. Farmers use sickles to clear brush or cut grain crops by hand. In some parts of the world, sickles are also used as weapons and for cooking. The sickle often represents an agricultural working class, notably in the crossed hammer and sickle symbol of the former Soviet Union and current Communist and Socialist parties around the world. Sickle comes from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cut."
Vocabulary lists containing sickle
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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:
The facade of the building betrays no affiliation—neither hammer nor sickle.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
The defective hemoglobin sticks to itself, causing normally flexible cells to stiffen into sickle shapes—a process sometimes called sickling—that block blood flow, damage organs and trigger excruciating pain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The father of a teenager from Guinea with sickle cell disease who died days after he was arrested for cheating in an exam has told the BBC he blames the authorities for his death.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Without any products on the market, Fulcrum Therapeutics had been striving to commercialize its experimental drug for sickle cell disease, but those plans appear to now be on hold.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
He pointed away over the land of Rohan into the darkling West under the sickle moon.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
These farmers used stone tools such as sickles and made simple jars to store their grain.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
On a street in Romania in 2004, a young boy sold Mr. Kalb a souvenir for $16: a set of Soviet-era binoculars etched with red stars, hammers and sickles, and crossed Kalashnikov rifles.
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2023
Eighteen-year-old Noor Mohammad and 25-year-old Ahmad keep swinging their sickles to clear a remaining metre of grain.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2022
The toddler’s red blood cells, shaped like sickles instead of disks, had gotten stuck in blood vessels to his brain, injuring their fragile linings and blocking blood flow.
From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2021
My sickles ain’t like regular blades that you’d use in the field.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
