Pelting

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act by which somebody or something is pelted.

    "[…] the rain began to pour down in torrents, and we exposed our persons to the peltings of the shower rather than have our few books and remaining dry clothes injured."

  2. 2
    anything happening rapidly or in quick successive wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of pelt form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    mean; paltry obsolete

    "I pray you, let us see you in the field; We have had pelting wars since you refused The Grecians' cause."

Example

More examples

"Here, with her hundred daughters, pale with dread, / poor Hecuba and all her female train, / as doves, that from the low'ring storm have fled, / and cower for shelter from the pelting rain, / crouch round the silent gods, and cling to them in vain."

Etymology

Related to paltry.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.