What does pelted mean?
Pelted is most commonly encountered as the past tense and past participle of the verb pelt. It describes attacking someone with thrown objects, as when a crowd pelted a speaker with papers, or overwhelming someone with a flood of questions, criticism, rain, or similar things. In figurative contexts, the word suggests persistence and force rather than a single blow. Pelted can also mean stripped of an animal's skin, although this use has a more historical or explicitly graphic character. As an adjective, it can mean having or covered with a pelt, particularly fur or hide, but this sense is relatively uncommon in modern prose. The word is vivid because it connects a literal action involving an animal's skin with the forceful modern idea of bombarding a person with objects or words. Both the literal and figurative senses are attested in British and American English.
Pelted is the past tense and past participle of pelt: to attack with thrown objects or subject someone repeatedly to questions, rain, or another barrage.
"The children pelted the tree with apples until the branches trembled."
The action implied is usually more sustained and disorderly than a single strike. Figurative use is especially common.
Having or covered with a pelt, especially an animal's fur or hide.
"The museum displayed the pelted head of a large deer above the mantelpiece."
This sense is less common than the verb form and may sound formal or archaic in some contexts.
From concealing an animal's fur to confronting someone with a barrage of questions, pelted has travelled from the hide to the headlines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pelted come from?
The word pelt originally referred to an animal's skin or hide and came through Middle English from Old French pelte, with a Medieval Latin antecedent, ultimately traced to Greek peltē, meaning a small shield. The verb pelt developed meanings associated both with removing an animal's skin and with attacking with thrown objects. Pelted is the regular past tense and past participle of that verb, while its separate adjectival use derives from the older noun.
Related word forms
How pelted is actually used
The verb often conveys a rapid, continuous barrage and is commonly used figuratively. The adjective meaning covered with a pelt is comparatively uncommon and formal, so a more direct phrase such as fur-covered may be clearer in ordinary writing.
Easily confused with pelted
Pelt is the base verb and the noun for an animal's skin or hide, whereas pelted is its past tense, past participle, and also a rarely used adjective.
Belted means fitted or fastened with a belt, while pelted refers to an animal's hide or to an attack involving thrown objects.