English Reference
Verb

hurl

v.
C1 Advanced US /ˈhɝɫ/ UK /hˈɜːl/ hurl UK spelling hurled, hurls

v.to throw something with a lot of force and speed. You use this when you want to show that someone is very angry or just throwing something hard.

v.to throw something forcefully or violently. Often used to describe the act of throwing a ball in sports or the physical manifestation of intense anger.


SIMPLE

He hurled the ball across the field.

CONTEXTUAL

The angry crowd hurled stones at the police as they tried to enter the stadium.

COMPLEX

In the heat of the argument, he hurled his coffee cup against the wall, leaving a large stain that would take hours to clean.

Enraged, he painted his spear in the red dye of annatto seeds and hurled it into the siblings, fusing their bodies together, and threw them into the river, where they transformed into dolphins.

Aeon· 20 Aug 2026

Hours later unidentified attackers hurled petrol bombs and smashed windows at his home in Bangladesh, but no one was hurt, police said.

The Guardian· 6 Aug 2026

Inherited from Middle English hurlen, of onomatopoeic origin; compare hurry, hurtle.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Middle English hurlen
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Occasional
Updated