troll

¹ American  

[trohl] / troʊl /

verb (used with object)

• trolls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trolled,
  past participle,  past
• trolling
  present participle

1. to fish for or in with a moving line, either working the line up or down with a rod as in fishing for pike, or trailing the line behind a slow-moving boat.

   In September, boat anglers were starting to troll the river for salmon.

2. to move (the line or bait) continuously through the water while fishing, as from a moving boat.

   As his outboard chugged past the island, he trolled his line out fifty or sixty feet behind.

3. to browse through (the internet, a collection, etc.) in search of something.

   She spends her downtime trolling websites for holiday deals.

4. Informal.

   1. to post inflammatory, inappropriate, controversial, or polarizing messages on (the internet) for the purpose of cultivating animosity, upsetting others, or provoking a response.

   2. to upset or provoke (others) by posting such messages.

   3. to make such provocative comments about (others) in public.

      The actress was trolled on late-night TV.

5. to sing or utter in a full, rolling voice.

   Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.

6. to sing in the manner of a round or catch.

7. Archaic. to cause to turn round and round; roll.

8. Obsolete. to hand around, as a bowl of liquor at table.

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verb (used without object)

• trolls,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trolled,
  past participle,  past
• trolling
  present participle

1. to fish by trolling.

   We spent the day trolling for muskies.

2. to browse through the internet, a collection, etc., in search of something.

   I trolled through my photos for hours to find the best shots of the two of us.

3. Informal.

   1. to post inflammatory, inappropriate, controversial, or polarizing messages online for the purpose of cultivating animosity, upsetting others, or provoking a response.

      He props up his fragile ego by trolling on game sites, putting everybody else down.

   2. to make such provocative comments in public.

4. Archaic. to sing with a full, rolling voice; give forth full, rolling tones.

5. Archaic. to be uttered or sounded in such tones.

6. Archaic. to roll; turn round and round.

7. Archaic. to move nimbly, as the tongue in speaking.

noun

1. the act of trolling for fish.

2. a lure used in trolling for fish.

3. the fishing line containing the lure and hook for use in trolling.

4. Informal.

   1. a person who posts inflammatory, inappropriate, controversial, or polarizing messages online for the purpose of cultivating animosity, upsetting others, or provoking a response.

   2. a person who makes such provocative comments in public.

5. Archaic. a song whose parts are sung in succession; a round.

troll ² American  

[trohl] / troʊl /

noun

1. (in Scandinavian folklore) any of a race of supernatural beings, sometimes conceived as giants and sometimes as dwarfs, inhabiting caves or subterranean dwellings.

2. Slang. a person who lives or sleeps in a park or under a viaduct or bridge, as a derelict or poor person.

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troll ¹ British  

/ trəʊl /

verb

1. angling

   1. to draw (a baited line, etc) through the water, often from a boat

   2. to fish (a stretch of water) by trolling

   3. to fish (for) by trolling

2. to roll or cause to roll

3. archaic to sing (a refrain, chorus, etc) or (of a refrain, etc) to be sung in a loud hearty voice

4. informal (intr) to walk or stroll

5. slang:homosexual (intr) to stroll around looking for sexual partners; cruise

6. slang (intr) computing to post deliberately inflammatory articles on an internet discussion board

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noun

1. the act or an instance of trolling

2. angling a bait or lure used in trolling, such as a spinner

3. slang computing a person who submits deliberately inflammatory articles to an internet discussion

troll ² British  

/ trəʊl /

noun

1. (in Scandinavian folklore) one of a class of supernatural creatures that dwell in caves or mountains and are depicted either as dwarfs or as giants

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Usage

What does troll mean? A troll is someone who harasses other people online to try to get a negative reaction from them. To troll someone is to harass them. The online troll is related to the trolls of legend and fiction, supernatural creatures that live in caves or other underground places. In such stories, trolls are monsters that are unfriendly to humans and sometimes kidnap them. The online sense of troll likens such people to monsters lurking and waiting for the chance to harass others. As a verb, troll also means to fish along a moving line, such as a line that trails behind a moving boat. When you move the fishing line or bait on such a line, that too is to troll. Example: I trolled my fishing line a little and ended up catching a big fish.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• troller
  noun
• untrolled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• trolling
  present
• trolled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• troll
  simple
• trolls
  simple
• have trolled
  perfect
• has trolled
  perfect
• am trolling
  progressive
• are trolling
  progressive
• is trolling
  progressive
• have been trolling
  perfect progressive
• has been trolling
  perfect progressive

Past

• trolled
  simple
• had trolled
  perfect
• was trolling
  progressive
• were trolling
  progressive
• had been trolling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will troll
  simple
• will have trolled
  perfect
• will be trolling
  progressive
• will have been trolling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of troll¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English trollen “to roll, stroll,” from Middle French troller “to run here and there, ramble,” from Middle High German trollen “to walk or run with short steps”; troll ¹ defs. 4, 11, 19 are influenced by troll ² ( def. )

Origin of troll²

First recorded in 1610–20; from Old Norse troll “demon, fiend”

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Explanation

A troll is a supernatural creature who is either very big or very small, ugly, and not very nice. You're most likely to read about a troll in a fairytale — perhaps trying to trick a beautiful princess into marrying him! You’ve probably come across a troll before, maybe in The Lord of the Rings. As a verb, to troll means to wander around. You may have heard of a trolley, which is a vehicle that helps you travel around a city. The word troll more generally refers to anything that repeats itself regularly. You might troll a city, searching for a trolley, or you might troll parts of a song, repeating them one after the other to annoy your neighbors!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

troll trolls trolled trolling

Courtney Love accused Charli of being a troll.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

One surefire way to annoy a troll is to call their efforts for attention an “obsession.”

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

It may sound fun to troll those text scammers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

Spencer Pratt is a showboat, a loudmouth, a troll and a self-proclaimed villain who seems willing to say anything in his quest to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026

“The troll approved it. Took care of everything. But Reggie is unavailable on Monday and Wednesday mornings between nine and noon.”

From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: At a train platform at King’s Cross station in London, a secret portal leads to a hidden world of wizards, trolls, ghosts and other wonders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

You must be prepared to stridently defend it to the trolls.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

Jay Slater's mum 'accused of his murder by trolls'

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Rivadeneira said she even scrubbed her personal social media accounts of photos of her young daughter after trolls began attacking loved ones.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

I was pretty dirty, but I couldn’t smell anything over the rancid odor of the trolls and their sludge.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

“They trolled some pretty big names in our popular culture and in the business world,” Krim said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026

For two years, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson oversaw work on a documentary about a hip-hop rival he has personally trolled on the internet for even longer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025

The DHS official social media account then trolled Bryan with a video dehumanizing migrants set to his song “Revival.”

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2025

Rapper 50 Cent — who has trolled Combs on social media since disturbing allegations against the Bad Boy Records founder first surfaced in late 2023 — offered a less formal take on the verdict.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2025

We trolled up the lake beyond Stresa and then down not far from shore.

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

"I never faced official restrictions on my cartoons during the previous governments, though there would be some trolling occasionally," he says.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026

I remember when the news first broke about that, someone said, “Well, I wonder if that’s Alex kind of trolling Musk back.”

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

As crowded as the deck was, ours was missing the one bit of fishing kit it needed most: the optional Minn Kota trolling motor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

Akhter has faced online trolling since the video took off.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

Key-lime Cadillacs, fire-red Toronados, wide-mouthed, trolling Lincolns, all in perfect shape.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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