welt
Americannoun
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welts
plural
-
a ridge or wale on the surface of the body, as from a blow of a stick or whip.
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a blow producing such a ridge or wale.
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Shoemaking.
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a strip, as of leather, set in between the outsole of a shoe and the edges of its insole and upper, through which these parts are joined by stitching or stapling.
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a strip, usually of leather, that ornaments a shoe.
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a strengthening or ornamental finish along a seam, the edge of a garment, etc.
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a seam in which one edge is cut close to the stitching line and covered by the other edge, which is stitched over it.
verb (used with object)
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welts,
present (3rd person singular)
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welted,
past participle, past
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welting
present participle
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to beat soundly, as with a stick or whip.
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to furnish or supply (a shoe or garment) with a welt or welts; sew a welt on to.
verb (used without object)
-
welts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
welted,
past participle, past
-
welting
present participle
noun
-
a raised or strengthened seam or edge, sewn in or on a knitted garment
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another word for weal 1
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(in shoemaking) a strip of leather, etc, put in between the outer sole and the inner sole and upper
verb
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to put a welt in (a garment, etc)
-
to beat or flog soundly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
weltsimple
-
weltssimple
-
have weltedperfect
-
has weltedperfect
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am weltingprogressive
-
are weltingprogressive
-
is weltingprogressive
-
have been weltingperfect progressive
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has been weltingperfect progressive
Past
-
weltedsimple
-
had weltedperfect
-
was weltingprogressive
-
were weltingprogressive
-
had been weltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of welt
1375–1425; late Middle English welte, walt shoemaker's welt, Old English wælt (thigh) sinew
Explanation
If someone hits you hard with a thin stick, your skin might rise up in a welt. Ouch. A welt is a swollen bruise. The extra bit of stitching around the pocket of your jeans can also be called a welt, as can the stitching that holds your shoe to its sole. In these cases, as well as in the case of the mark on the skin, a welt is a rising where things meet — either where a blow meets the body or where two types of fabric meet each other.
Vocabulary lists containing welt
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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:
Donovan seemed to use downstairs as his target with Crocker bringing the uppercut into play but he would find himself with a huge welt under the left eye by the end of the fourth.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2025
Among Germany’s other greatest portmanteau exports are weltschmerz, a combination of welt for “world” and schmerz for “pain,” meaning a “sensation of melancholy and world-weariness.”
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2025
There was also the time Clyde woke me up by nipping my chin hard enough to leave a welt because I had not served his breakfast quickly enough.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
On a sunny late-January day, Laura Topete visited her son at the Northridge home and found him with a bright red welt in the middle of his forehead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
The bite itself didn’t hurt, but the itchy welt it left behind caused plenty of discomfort.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
But it’s not only annoying pink welts that Faraji’s team is concerned about.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Gao suffers from chronic lumbar spine disease, arthritis, eye problems and chronic urticaria – a skin condition that causes itchy red welts.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2026
“According to her Doctor’s Report, she suffers from ‘urticaria,’ defined as ‘a rash of round, red welts on the skin that itch intensely, sometimes with dangerous swelling.’
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2024
He lasted two entire days before contracting a new virus, this one accompanied by the sudden appearance of hideous red welts all over his body, which sent him to urgent care just before midnight.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2022
Maybe I should be happy that someone else can, but instead I am sitting here feeling like my heart has a million welts on it, stinging and burning.
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
Instead he just welted it straight down Coady’s pipe.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 4, 2021
She started collaging parts of cutup garments to her canvases, fitting them together like puzzles, letting their welted seams define taut shapes that now extend edge to edge.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2021
By contrast the men's market has benefitted from higher-priced items such as Goodyear welted shoes which enjoy a healthy export trade to Europe, Asia and US.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2017
Wicker concludes the scene many hours later: It sounds like a welted voice wincing at the basement’s night.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2013
I do not think I could have watched them cut, but 1 watched the wound closed into a high welted ridge with quick skilful-looking stitches like a cobbler's, and was glad.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
Harnage stands alone on a darkened stage, amid a forest of ropes — soft sculptures made of cotton welting — that dropped like curtains.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2022
EST 14:00 71 min A good move involving Lukaku and Lennon ends with Azpilicueta welting the ball clear from inside his own six-yard box.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 12, 2016
Hang on, umpire Steve Davis is looking towards the horizon - and just like that it's welting it down.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2010
Examples: > In Liverpool, dock-wallopers practice a custom called "welting"; half of an eight-man crew works while the other half loafs, and at intervals they change roles.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had known too many Marine wives and children who had come to their front door and found dour messengers, their faces carved from the ices of duty, standing with tragic news welting their tongues.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
