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."
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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:
Gene therapies have already achieved important successes against conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy and sickle cell disease.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
His sickle cell disease leaves him in excruciating pain.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
The facade of the building betrays no affiliation—neither hammer nor sickle.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
Studies have shown that sickle cell trait can be fatal when coupled with rhabdomyolysis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
How he picked up his sickle, whirled around and sickled the smell that fixed the ghost forever.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
“Even in the doctor’s office, in the cards that show up when we’re showing each of Puss’ deaths, there’s a fancy little border: It’s an icon of the Wolf with sickles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 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 palms themselves serve as a wind barrier, creating sauna-like conditions, and harvesters need incredible strength to hoist long poles with sickles into the towering trees.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2020
Her Mexican still lifes, with cartridge belts and sickles piled on guitars, exploit the activist potential of visual beauty, though, disappointingly, the show offers no fresh insights into them, or into Modotti’s heavily mythologized life.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2015
I take my sickles from the sheriff, then open the door.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
