tackle
Americannoun
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tackles
plural
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equipment, apparatus, or gear, especially for fishing.
fishing tackle.
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a mechanism or apparatus, as a rope and block or a combination of ropes and blocks, for hoisting, lowering, and shifting objects or materials; purchase.
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any system of leverage using several pulleys.
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Nautical. the gear and running rigging for handling a ship or performing some task on a ship.
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an act of tackling, as in football; a seizing, grasping, or bringing down.
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Football.
-
either of the linemen stationed between a guard and an end.
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the position played by this lineman.
-
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(formerly) tack.
verb (used with object)
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tackles,
present (3rd person singular)
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tackled,
past participle, past
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tackling
present participle
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to undertake to handle, master, solve, etc..
to tackle a difficult problem.
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to deal with (a person) on some problem, issue, etc.
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to harness (a horse).
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Football. to seize, stop, or throw down (a ball-carrier).
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Soccer, Field Hockey. to block or impede the movement or progress of (an opponent having the ball) with the result of depriving the opponent of the ball.
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to seize suddenly, especially in order to stop.
verb (used without object)
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tackles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tackled,
past participle, past
-
tackling
present participle
noun
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any mechanical system for lifting or pulling, esp an arrangement of ropes and pulleys designed to lift heavy weights
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the equipment required for a particular occupation, etc
fishing tackle
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nautical the halyards and other running rigging aboard a vessel
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slang a man's genitals
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sport a physical challenge to an opponent, as to prevent his progress with the ball
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American football a defensive lineman
verb
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(tr) to undertake (a task, problem, etc)
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(tr) to confront (a person, esp an opponent) with a difficult proposition
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sport (esp in football games) to challenge (an opponent) with a tackle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tacklesimple
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tacklessimple
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have tackledperfect
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has tackledperfect
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am tacklingprogressive
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are tacklingprogressive
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is tacklingprogressive
-
have been tacklingperfect progressive
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has been tacklingperfect progressive
Past
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tackledsimple
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had tackledperfect
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was tacklingprogressive
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were tacklingprogressive
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had been tacklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tackle
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English takel “gear, apparatus,” from Middle Low German; akin to take
Explanation
To tackle a challenge means taking it on, so if you set out to tackle the classics of English literature, you should be prepared spend a lot of time in the library. The word tackle can be a verb or a noun, depending on its use. Today, the noun usually means fishing gear, but when it came into the English language it meant the ropes on a ship. If a ship was lurching about on the high seas, you dealt with that challenge by grabbing the tackle and wrestling it under control. Nowadays, people tend to think of tackling running backs and financial fraud, rather than ropes.
Vocabulary lists containing tackle
Set, Hut! Football Vocabulary
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Words Football Fans Can Master Easily
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American Football, 2nd Quarter
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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 pair keeps planning to hire—but then find they’re able to tackle yet another task with agents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Now, Newbury Park is moving the 6-foot-4, 270-pound junior to left tackle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Chargers center Tyler Biadasz went down after 49ers defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez fell on his left leg during a drill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
And he praised the use of drones to identify wildfire hot spots and said resources had to be ensured to support "newer technologies which will mean that we can tackle wildfires more effectively".
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The Captain decided that while Auntie Braxton was in the hospital, the three of us should tackle her house.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
Overall, Guehi won all three of his tackles - more than any other player on the pitch - while also managing a 94.9% pass completion from 59 attempts and winning eight of his 11 duels.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Playing the nickel position in Serra’s 4-2-5 defensive alignment, Ace contributed 52 tackles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Safety Nick Andersen had a team-best nine tackles for the Rams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Source Foundry tackles the tightest bottleneck: tooling for semiconductor manufacturing, starting in lithography.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
In a 19-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Nebraska, he started at safety and was in on nine tackles and intercepted a pass.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
She tackled “diva” with Mariah Carey and “bimbo” with Paris Hilton.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
"The threshold to get adult social care from councils to relieve the caring burden is so high, many don't get help. Until that is addressed, the inequalities young carers face will not be tackled."
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
So the head of communications, for instance, became the head of finance as they tackled issues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
In south Wales, about 14 separate fires were being tackled by crews on Sunday.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
He broke to the right on one carry but had no acceleration at all and was easily tackled for no gain.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Chacin said the expanded police presence could help stem violence, but that tackling organized crime required, above all, following the money -- investigating how the proceeds are laundered and who is benefitting most.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Even with the U.A.E.’s newly announced measures, tackling that parallel financing web would remain a challenge, analysts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
About 100 firefighters are tackling a massive blaze at a waste facility in south-east London.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
That led her to co-found the Coalition Against Stalkerware, an international working group tackling the problem of software tools frequently used to spy on unknowing romantic partners.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
He is impatient to get things done, tackling too many things at once.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
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.
