verb
Freq #31042
Meanings
-
1
verb
cause to move forward with force
Steam propels this ship.
Thesaurus
Word family
Forms
propelledpropellingpropels
Derived forms
nonpropelledpropellablepropellantpropellentpropellerpropelmentrepropelself-propelledself-propellingunpropelled
Etymology
From Middle English propellen (“drive out, expel”), from Latin propellō, from pro- (“forward”) and pellō (“to push, to move”).
View etymology graph ->