Library / English Dictionary

PROPEL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: propelled    , propelling   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to move forward with force

Example:

Steam propels this ship

Synonyms:

impel; propel

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "propel" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "propel"):

flip (move with a flick or light motion)

rocket (propel with a rocket)

carry (propel or give impetus to)

kick (drive or propel with the foot)

pole; punt (propel with a pole)

hit (cause to move by striking)

throw (propel through the air)

drive (push, propel, or press with force)

launch (propel with force)

catapult (shoot forth or launch, as if from a catapult)

project; send off (throw, send, or cast forward)

loft (propel through the air)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

propellant (any substance that propels)

propellant (tending to or capable of propelling)

propellent (any substance that propels)

propellent (tending to or capable of propelling)

propeller; propellor (a mechanical device that rotates to push against air or water)

propulsion (the act of propelling)

propulsive (tending to or capable of propelling)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give an incentive for action

Example:

This moved me to sacrifice my career

Synonyms:

actuate; incite; motivate; move; prompt; propel

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "propel" is one way to...):

cause; do; make (give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally)

Verb group:

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

move (arouse sympathy or compassion in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They propel him to write the letter

Derivation:

propulsion (the act of propelling)

Credits

 Context examples: 

According to DARPA, the XS-1 will be about the size of a business jet and take off vertically, propelled not by external boosters but by “self contained cryogenic propellants.”

(Hypersonic Space Plane May Soon Be a Reality, VOA)

The cilia beat in unison (about 1,000 strokes per minute) and in a wave-like fashion, thereby propelling mucus and entrapped foreign material toward the oropharynx for expectoration or swallowing.

(Ciliated Bronchial Epithelial Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

It turns out this whip-like process also naturally generates Alfvén waves, a strong kind of magnetic wave scientists suspect is key to heating the sun’s atmosphere and propelling the solar wind, which constantly bathes our solar system and planet with charged particles from the sun.

(Scientists Uncover Origins of the Sun’s Swirling Spicules, NASA)

Flu viruses with superior ability to transmit through the air are those that outcompete other flu virus variants in the soft palate and that inflammation associated with infection there stimulates the sneezing and coughing needed to better propel flu virus onward to new contacts.

(Researchers find role for soft palate in adaptation of transmissible influenza viruses, NIH)

Teams led by Taher Saif and Rashid Bashir at the University of Illinois worked together to develop the first self-propelled biohybrid swimming and walking biobots powered by beating cardiac muscle cells derived from rats.

(Researchers build microscopic biohybrid robots propelled by muscles, nerves, National Science Foundation)

Burning a combination of refined kerosene called RP-1 and liquid oxygen and carrying a single solid-fueled booster, the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 pushed the spacecraft through the dense lower layers of the atmosphere, then the Centaur upper stage took over, propelling OSIRIS-REx faster and higher.

(Evening Launch Catapults OSIRIS-REx Toward Asteroid Encounter, NASA)

On 4 August 2019, French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crossed the English Channel on a jet-powered freeflight flying device propelled by turbines and attached to his feet, called Flyboard Air.

(French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel on jet-powered hoverboard, Wikinews)

All that stirring of old instincts which at stated periods drives men out from the sounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaden pellets, the blood lust, the joy to kill—all this was Buck’s, only it was infinitely more intimate.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)