trowel

American  

[trou-uhl] / ˈtraʊ əl /

noun

1. any of various tools having a flat blade with a handle, used for depositing and working mortar, plaster, etc.

2. a similar tool with a curved, scooplike blade, used in gardening for taking up plants, turning up earth, etc.

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verb (used with object)

troweled, troweling, trowelled, trowelling

1. to apply, shape, smooth, or dig with or as if with a trowel.

trowel British  

/ ˈtraʊəl /

noun

1. any of various small hand tools having a flat metal blade attached to a handle, used for scooping or spreading plaster or similar materials

2. a similar tool with a curved blade used by gardeners for lifting plants, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to use a trowel on (plaster, soil, etc)

trowel Idioms  

1. see under lay it on thick.

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Other Word Forms

• troweler noun
• troweller noun

Etymology

Origin of trowel

1300–50; Middle English < Old French truelle < Late Latin truella, equivalent to Latin tru ( a ) ladle + -ella -elle

Explanation

A trowel is a tool for digging small holes or spreading plaster. If you're an avid gardener (or an apprentice bricklayer), you probably own a trowel. Gardeners use trowels to dig shallow troughs for planting seeds, bulbs, or small plants. Gardening trowels are basically small shovels. When you're building a stone wall or grouting tile, your trowel will look a bit different—it will be flatter and possibly triangular in shape. The Late Latin source of trowel, truella, means "small ladle or dipper."

Example Sentences

"We need you to get qualified and get more flats and houses up," she told two bricklaying apprentices, while not entirely convincing with her own trowel technique.

From BBC • Sep. 6, 2025

The oatmeal color looks about right and when Risa picks at it with her trowel, the surrounding black and gray debris falls away, revealing the rough outline of a box’s edge.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2025

This is after all a horror picture, and Stevenson layers on the horror tropes with a trowel, so much so that the movie descends into wretched excessiveness.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 5, 2024

The team of researchers used a trowel to shave 1 to 2 centimeters of snow from the surface of 130 polar bear prints left near Alaska’s North Slope.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 5, 2023

Stendahl produced a trowel from under his cape smiling.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

Related Words

• burrow
• inquire