Word.ws English Dictionary

nailed

/neɪld/

nailed is the simple past and past participle of nail.

Meaning of nail

Verb

nail (third-person singular simple present nails, present participle nailing, simple past and past participle nailed)

  1. (transitive) To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
    • He nailed the placard to the post.
  2. (intransitive) To drive a nail.
    • He used the ax head for nailing.
    Synonyms:
    hammer
  3. (transitive) To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
    • The rivets of their arms were nail'd with gold.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  4. (slang) To catch.
    • I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35
  5. (slang, transitive) To expose as a sham.
  6. (slang, transitive) To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
    • I really nailed that test.
    Synonyms:
    ace, fullbring, fulfill
    Antonyms:
    screw

See all 19 meanings of nail

Adjective

nailed (not comparable)

  1. (in-compounds, often) Having nails (of a specified kind).
    • a red-nailed finger

Phrases with nailed

Words that rhyme with nailed

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about nailed

What does nailed mean?
Nailed means having nails (of a specified kind).
What is nailed the simple past and past participle of?
Nailed is the simple past and past participle of nail.
What part of speech is nailed?
Nailed is an adjective.
How do you pronounce nailed?
Nailed is pronounced /neɪld/.

Words near nailed in the dictionary

  1. nailclippers
  2. nailclipping
  3. nailclippings
  4. nailcutter
  5. nailcutters
  6. nailed
  7. nailed down
  8. nailed it
  9. nailed Jell-O to a wall
  10. nailed one's colours to the mast
  11. nailed someone to the wall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nailed (page history and authors); nail (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: “nailed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nailed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.