propel

English

Etymology

From Middle English propellen (“drive out, expel”), from Latin propellō, from pro- (“forward”) and pellō (“I push, I move”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpɛl/

  • Audio (US)

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈpel/
• Rhymes: -ɛl

Verb

propel (third-person singular simple present propels, present participle propelling, simple past and past participle propelled)

1. (transitive) To provide an impetus for motion or physical action, to cause to move in a certain direction; to drive forward.
   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter V, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Mass Relays Codex entry:

     Primary mass relays can propel ships thousands of light years, often from one spiral arm of the galaxy to another.

2. (transitive, figurative) To provide an impetus for non-physical change, to make to arrive to a certain situation or result.
   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 265e:

     I can discern your nature and see that even without any arguments (logoi) from me it will propel you to what you say you are drawn towards,

   • 2020 November 7, Chelsea Janes, “Kamala Harris, daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, elected nation’s first female vice president”, in Washington Post‎:

     Black women helped propel Harris and president-elect Joe Biden to victory by elevating turnout in places like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

Synonyms

• (either): drive, push

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “either”): stay, halt, stop
• (antonym(s) of “cause to move”): rest

Derived terms

Related terms

• propulsion

Translations

Anagrams

• lopper

Danish

Alternative forms

• (rare) propeller

Etymology

From English propeller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /propɛl/,

Noun

propel c (singular definite propellen, plural indefinite propeller)

1. propeller (mechanical device used to propel)

Inflection

See also

• propel on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da