hurtle.
To propel or throw (something) hard or violently; to fling, to hurl.
Meaning & usage
To propel or throw (something) hard or violently; to fling, to hurl.
He hurtled the wad of paper angrily at the trash can and missed by a mile.
To cause (someone or something) to collide with or hit another person or thing; or (two people or things) to collide with or hit each other.
To attack or criticize (someone) verbally or in writing.
To move rapidly, violently, or without control, especially in a noisy manner.
The car hurtled down the hill at 90 miles per hour.
Pieces of broken glass hurtled through the air.
Of a person or thing: to collide with or hit another person or thing, especially with force or violence; also, of two people or things: to collide together; to clash.
To make a sound of things clashing or colliding together; to clatter, to rattle; hence, to move with such a sound.
Of two people, etc.: to meet in a shocking or violent encounter; to clash; to jostle.
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English hurtelen, hurtlen (“to cast, hurl, throw; to charge at; to clash in combat, fight; to collide; to injure; to knock down; to propel, push, thrust; to rush; to stumble”) [and other forms], from hurten (“to injure, wound, hurt (physically or figuratively); to damage, impair; to hurt one’s feelings, humiliate; to receive an injury; to collide into; to propel, push, thrust; to stumble”) (see further at English hurt (verb)) + -el-, -elen (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as hurt (“(obsolete) to knock; to strike”) + -le (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.
An act of colliding with or hitting; a collision.
A rapid or uncontrolled movement; a dash, a rush.
A sound of clashing or colliding; a clattering, a rattling.
(Violent) disagreement; conflict.
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English hurtelen, hurtlen (“to cast, hurl, throw; to charge at; to clash in combat, fight; to collide; to injure; to knock down; to propel, push, thrust; to rush; to stumble”) [and other forms], from hurten (“to injure, wound, hurt (physically or figuratively); to damage, impair; to hurt one’s feelings, humiliate; to receive an injury; to collide into; to propel, push, thrust; to stumble”) (see further at English hurt (verb)) + -el-, -elen (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as hurt (“(obsolete) to knock; to strike”) + -le (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonym of hurtleberry or whortleberry (“any of several shrubs belonging to the genus Vaccinium; a berry of one of these shrubs”).
Where this word comes from
Possibly a clipping of hurtleberry, from Middle English hurtil-beri (“bilberry or blue whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus); berry of this shrub”); further etymology unknown, compare Middle English horten, hurten (“bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)”), and Old English horte (“bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)”).
Misspelling of hurdle.
Where this word comes from
See hurdle.
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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.