fell
1 of 5noun (1)
ˈfel 
1
: skin, hide, pelt
2
: a thin tough membrane covering a carcass directly under the hide
fell
2 of 5verb
felled; felling; fells
transitive verb
1
a
: to cut, knock, or bring down
fell a tree
b
: kill
Her father was felled by a heart attack.
2
: to sew (a seam) by folding one raw edge under the other and sewing flat on the wrong side
fellable
ˈfe-lə-bəl
adjective feller noun
fell
3 of 5past tense of fall
fell
4 of 5adjective
1
a
: fierce, cruel, terrible
b
: sinister, malevolent
a fell purpose
c
: very destructive : deadly
a fell disease
2
Scotland : sharp, pungent
fellness noun
fell
5 of 5noun
dialectal British
: a high barren field or moor
Synonyms
Verb
- bowl (down or over)
- down
- drop
- floor
- knock down
- knock over
- level
- mow (down)
- prostrate
Adjective
- baleful
- deadly
- deathly
- fatal
- killer
- lethal
- mortal
- murderous
- pestilent
- terminal
- vital
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Verb using an ax to fell a tree He's strong enough to fell an ox. Adjective planning for the distribution of resources in case of some fell event war crimes committed by a fell and barbarous enemy
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German fel skin, Latin pellis
Verb
Middle English, from Old English fellan; akin to Old English feallan to fall — more at fall
Adjective
Middle English fel, from Anglo-French — more at felon
Noun
Middle English, from Old Norse fell, fjall mountain; akin to Old High German felis rock
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing fell
Kids Definition
fell 1 of 2
verb
ˈfel
felled; felling
: to cut or knock down
I felled a tree.
fell
2 of 2past tense of fall
felling
verb
1
as in dropping
to strike (someone) so forcefully as to cause a fall a champion boxer who was shockingly felled in the first round Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- dropping
- hitting
- punching
- toppling
- downing
- slapping
- smacking
- poking
- slamming
- leveling
- flooring
- knocking over
- prostrating
- levelling
- knocking down
- whacking
- thumping
- banging
- pounding
- jabbing
- overthrowing
- bashing
- knocking out
- hammering
- smiting
- whaling
- mowing (down)
- swiping
- bludgeoning
- pasting
- thwacking
- bowling (down or over)
- throwing down
- slugging
- socking
- clobbering
- kayoing
- slogging
- belting
- KO'ing
- swatting
- walloping
2
as in mowing
to bring down by cutting the settlers began the daunting task of felling the mighty trees that blanketed the island Synonyms & Similar Words
- mowing
- hewing
- demolishing
- flattening
- bulldozing
- razing
- levelling
- cutting (down)
- chopping (down)
- leveling
- tearing down
3
as in killing
to deprive of life the quest for a cure for malaria, the disease that felled so many during the digging of the Panama Canal Synonyms & Similar Words
- killing
- destroying
- slaying
- taking
- dispatching
- slaughtering
- claiming
- murdering
- carrying off
- finishing
- getting
- croaking
- mowing
- whacking
- butchering
- doing for
- wasting
- annihilating
- assassinating
- massacring
- doing in
- smiting
- executing
- snuffing
- cutting down
- neutralizing
- offing
- decimating
- taking out
- doing away with
- terminating
- putting away
- icing
- knocking off
- making away with
- rubbing out
- killing off
- martyring
- bumping off
- scragging
- euthanizing
- blotting out
- putting down
- suiciding
- euthanatizing
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- restoring
- reviving
- raising
- animating
- resurrecting
- nurturing
- resuscitating
- squirrel monkey
- squirrel mouse
- squirrel opossum
- squirrel phalanger
- squirrel rifle
- squirrel shrew
- squirrel's-foot fern
- squirreled
- squirreled (away)
- squirreled away
- squirrelfish
- squirrelfishes
- squirreling
- squirreling (away)
- squirreling away
- squirrelled
- squirrelled away
- squirrelling
- squirrelling away
- squirrelly
- squirrels
- squirrels (away)
- squirrels away
- squirreltail
- squirreltail barley