What does pounded mean?
Pounded is the past tense and past participle of pound, meaning to strike something repeatedly or forcefully, crush it, or reduce it to a smaller or softer form. Its uses range from vivid descriptions of physical force, as when rain pounds a roof, to precise culinary language describing ingredients crushed in a mortar or transformed into minced meat. The word can also convey a more figurative sense of being beaten heavily or defeated, especially in sports and informal speech. Pounded meat and pounded garlic are familiar adjective uses, while phrases such as “pounded by the waves” emphasize persistence and force. Though the word can sound dramatic, it is fully standard in both British and American English. Its range makes it useful whenever an action involves repeated force, crushing, or a striking result.
Struck repeatedly or with great force; crushed, beaten, or reduced by pounding.
"The boxer pounded his opponent with a series of powerful punches."
The form can describe literal striking or crushing and figurative use in contexts such as heavy defeat or persistent rain.
Reduced to a pulp, paste, or fine texture by pounding; beaten or battered.
"Spread the pounded garlic over the toast."
This use is especially common in culinary descriptions, such as pounded meat, garlic, or spices.
From the weight of a blow to the weight of a recipe, pounded captures force used again and again.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pounded come from?
Pounded is the regular past-tense and past-participle form of pound, a verb with older English forms associated with crushing or beating something by force. The related sense of pound as a unit of weight comes through Latin pondus, meaning “weight,” while the noun pound meaning an enclosure has a separate history. The modern form developed through the ordinary inflection of the verb and now serves both verbal and adjectival functions.
How pounded is actually used
Pounded is a normal past-tense and past-participle form of pound. As an adjective, it is especially common in food preparation, as in pounded garlic or pounded meat. The expression is sometimes informal when describing someone as exhausted or repeatedly defeated, but its literal meanings are standard in formal and informal English.