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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bullet.

A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbʊlɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɵlɪt/British, Southern, Standard/ˈbʊlət/New-Zealand/ˈbʉlɪt/Northern-Ireland, Scotland
  1. A projectile, usually of metal, shot from a gun at high speed.

    countable · uncountable
  2. An entire round of unfired ammunition for a firearm, including the projectile, the cartridge casing, the propellant charge, etc.

    countable · informal · uncountable
  3. Ammunition for a sling or slingshot which has been manufactured for such use.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A printed symbol in the form of a solid circle ⟨•⟩, often used to mark items in a list.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A large scheduled repayment of the principal of a loan; a balloon payment.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A rejection letter, as for employment, admission to a school or a competition.

    countable · uncountable
    John's not going to any of his top schools; he got a bullet from the last of them yesterday.
  7. One year of prison time.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  8. An ace (the playing card).

    countable · slang · uncountable
  9. Anything that is projected extremely fast.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
  10. Very fast (speedy).

    attributive · countable · uncountable
    bullet train
    bullet chess
  11. Ellipsis of bullet chess.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · uncountable
  12. A plumb or sinker.

    countable · uncountable
  13. The heavy projectile thrown in a game of road bowling.

    Ireland · countable · uncountable
  14. A roughly bullet-shaped sweet consisting of a cylinder of liquorice covered in chocolate.

    Australia · countable · uncountable
  15. A small ball.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  16. A cannonball.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  17. The fetlock of a horse.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  18. The best workout time at a track on a given day at a specific distance, traditionally marked by a printer's bullet.

    Canada · US · countable · uncountable
  19. A notation used on pop music charts to indicate that a song is climbing in the rankings.

    countable · uncountable
  20. Ellipsis of bullet vibrator.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bullet (“an official tag or badge of registration or identification”), from Old French bullete, diminutive of boule (“ball”). Later influenced by Middle French boulette and French boulet.

verb/ˈbʊlɪt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɵlɪt/British, Southern, Standard/ˈbʊlət/New-Zealand/ˈbʉlɪt/Northern-Ireland, Scotland
  1. To draw attention to (text) by, or as if by, placing a graphic bullet in front of it.

    informal · transitive
  2. To speed, like a bullet.

    informal · intransitive
    Their debut started slow, but bulleted to number six in its fourth week.
  3. To make a shot, especially with great speed.

    informal · transitive
    He bulleted a header for his first score of the season.
  4. To inflict bullet shots upon.

    rare · slang · transitive
  5. To fire from a job; to dismiss.

    slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bullet (“an official tag or badge of registration or identification”), from Old French bullete, diminutive of boule (“ball”). Later influenced by Middle French boulette and French boulet.

noun
  1. A young or little bull; a male calf.

    rare
Where this word comes from

From bull + -et.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.