What does "felt" mean?
A cloth or stuff made of matted fibres of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving.
Felt
/fɛlt/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A cloth or stuff made of matted fibres of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving.
- Grammar: felt is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: believe, cloth, concrete, corduroy.
- Useful contrasts: bare table, deny, disbelieve.
- Usage evidence: Though his stay in Europe was transient, Spenser felt he had learned much more about interactions with other people from traveling than he did at college.
How to use "felt"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "felt" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "felt" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "felt" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "felt" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "felt" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "believe" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "felt", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A cloth or stuff made of matted fibres of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving. countable, uncountable
"It were a delicate stratagem to shoe A troop of horse with felt."
- 2 Acronym of fast-evolving luminous transient, a type of supernova. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 3 a fabric made of compressed matted animal fibers wordnet
- 4 A hat made of felt. countable, uncountable
- 5 A felt-tip pen. countable, uncountable
"You'll notice that all the illustrations are done in different media: some with pencil crayons, some with felts, some with paint, some with chalk pastels."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A skin or hide; a fell; a pelt. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"To know whether sheep are sound or not, see that the felt be loose."
Verb
- 1 To make into felt or a feltlike substance; to cause to adhere and mat together. transitive
"the same Wool , for instance , one Men felts it into a Hat, another weaves it into Cloth , another weaves it into Kersey or Serge"
- 2 simple past and past participle of feel form-of, participle, past, transitive
- 3 change texture so as to become matted and felt-like wordnet
- 4 To cover with, or as if with, felt. transitive
"to felt the cylinder of a steam engine"
- 5 cover with felt wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To cause (a player) to lose all their chips. transitive
- 7 mat together and make felt-like wordnet
- 8 To thoroughly defeat or humiliate (someone). Internet, broadly, transitive
Adjective
- 1 That has been experienced or perceived. transitive
"Conversions to Islam can therefore be a deeply felt aesthetic experience that rarely occurs in Christian accounts of conversion, which are generally the source rather than the result of a Christian experience of beauty."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
"Anaïs Felt, a 31-year-old content creator based in the San Francisco Bay area, has “never felt better” after taking a microretirement this year. […] In the caption, Felt noted that the break is “totally worth it” if you have the money. She’s “childfree” and had saved up “a sizable chunk” of funds before quitting her 9-to-5."
Antonyms
Example
"Though his stay in Europe was transient, Spenser felt he had learned much more about interactions with other people from traveling than he did at college."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "felt"?
Common synonyms include: believe, cloth, concrete, corduroy, cotton, danish felt.
How do you use "felt" in a sentence?
Though his stay in Europe was transient, Spenser felt he had learned much more about interactions with other people from traveling than he did at college.
How do you pronounce "felt"?
Pronounced /fɛlt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English felt, from Old English felt, from Proto-West Germanic *felt (compare Dutch vilt, German Filz, Danish filt, French feutre), from Proto-Indo-European *pilto, *pilso 'felt' (compare Latin pilleus (“felt”, adjective), Old Church Slavonic плъсть (plŭstĭ), Albanian plis, Ancient Greek πῖλος (pîlos)), from *pel- 'to beat'. More at anvil.
Etymology 2
From Old English fēled, corresponding to feel + -ed.