What does hurtle mean?
Word: Hurtle
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Hurtle means to rush in one direction very fast, often with a lot of force.
Synonyms: zoom
How do you spell hurtle?
Syllables: hur - tle
Tricky part: The ending is the trap. It sounds like el or al, but the last two letters are le.
Watch out for: hurtel, hurtal, hurtil
Memory tip: Hurtle ends like little and kettle: the l comes before the e.
Hurtle in a sentence
Example 1: Comets hurtle through space at tens of kilometres per second.
Example 2: Our raft began to hurtle down the fast stretch of the Ganga at Rishikesh.
Example 3: The news seemed to hurtle round the school before the first bell.
Fun Fact
Long ago hurtle meant to bump or knock against something, and only later did it come to mean moving at great speed.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
hurrtle
a) r
b) t
c) u
d) l
Show answer
a) r. The vowel sound in fur needs just one consonant after it here.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
We watched the toboggan trlheu down the snowy slope at Gulmarg and vanish round the bend.
a) hurtle
b) huddle
c) hostile
d) hustle
Show answer
a) hurtle. The jumble holds an r, and none of the other three words has one.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word hurtle as used in the sentence:
The express trains hurtle through our small station without stopping, shaking the benches on the platform.
a) crawl
b) dash
c) shoot
d) race
Show answer
a) crawl. Dash, race and shoot are all fast; crawl is what a very slow train does.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are misspelt. Choose the meaning of the one spelt correctly.
1. vaccuum 2. glacer 3. hurtle 4. tranquill
a) to fly forward at great speed
b) a space that has no air in it
c) calm, quiet and free from disturbance
d) a huge mass of ice moving slowly downhill
Show answer
a) to fly forward at great speed. Vacuum, glacier and tranquil are all printed wrongly, which leaves the page word.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which moving thing here could best be said to hurtle?
a) a leaf settling on a quiet pond
b) a cloud drifting over the hills
c) a cricket ball after a powerful shot
d) a snail crossing a garden path
Show answer
c) a cricket ball after a powerful shot
2. If time seems to hurtle by during the holidays, what does that suggest?
a) The days seemed over all too soon
b) The days were full of heavy rain
c) The days were spent at a new school
d) The days felt slow and rather dull
Show answer
a) The days seemed over all too soon
