Word.ws English Dictionary

nerfed

nerfed is the simple past and past participle of nerf.

Meaning of nerf

Verb (1)

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

  1. (transitive) To bump lightly, whether accidentally or purposefully.
    • A racer will often nerf another as a psychological tactic.

Verb (2)

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

  1. (slang, transitive) To change a mechanic, an ability, or a character in a video game in order to make less efficacious.
    • The lightning spell was originally pretty powerful, but in the sequel they nerfed it so it became completely useless.
    Synonyms:
    gimp
  2. (slang, transitive) To arbitrarily limit or reduce the capability of.
    • Tesla nerfs Autopilot in Europe due to new regulations2019 May 17, Fred Lambert, Electrek, retrieved 19 May 2019

See all 4 meanings of nerf

Adjective

nerfed (comparative more nerfed, superlative most nerfed)

  1. (slang) Crippled; made weak or worse.

Forms of nerfed

comparativemore nerfed
superlativemost nerfed

Phrases with nerfed

Questions about nerfed

What does nerfed mean?
Nerfed means crippled; made weak or worse.
What is nerfed the simple past and past participle of?
Nerfed is the simple past and past participle of nerf.
What part of speech is nerfed?
Nerfed is an adjective.

Words near nerfed in the dictionary

  1. nerf balls
  2. nerf bar
  3. nerf bars
  4. nerf net
  5. nerf nets
  6. nerfed
  7. Nerfer
  8. Nerfers
  9. nerfherder
  10. nerfherders
  11. nerfing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nerfed (page history and authors); nerf (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-nerfed.ogg.

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