Word.ws English Dictionary

cast a pall

cast a pall verb: to spoil (something); to cast a feeling of gloom (over something).

Verb

cast a pall (third-person singular simple present casts a pall, present participle casting a pall, simple past and past participle cast a pall)

  1. To spoil (something); to cast a feeling of gloom (over something).
    • There are some wonderful verbal volleys, but at times the piety is so thick it casts a pall on the humor — like walking out of a funeral and straight into a backyard bounce house.2012 June 21, Alessandra Stanley, “So Sayeth the Anchorman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • It’s not always necessary to say goodbye — and in some cases, it’s better if you don’t. Unless an event is highly intimate, says Taseer, “you cast a pall” when you announce your departure to the group.2026 July 7, Rose Courteau, “How to Be a Good Guest at a Dinner Party”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Forms of cast a pall

third-person singular presentcasts a pall
present participlecasting a pall
past participlecast a pall
pastcast a pall

Questions about cast a pall

What does cast a pall mean?
Cast a pall means to spoil (something); to cast a feeling of gloom (over something).
What part of speech is cast a pall?
Cast a pall is a verb.
What is the past tense of cast a pall?
The past tense of cast a pall is cast a pall.

Words near cast a pall in the dictionary

  1. cassumunar
  2. Cassville
  3. cassythine
  4. cast
  5. cast a chill
  6. cast a pall
  7. cast a shadow
  8. cast about
  9. cast accounts
  10. cast adrift
  11. cast anchor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cast a pall (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cast a pall.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cast_a_pall. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.