Word.ws English Dictionary

nettled

nettled is the simple past and past participle of nettle.

Meaning of nettle

Verb

nettle (third-person singular simple present nettles, present participle nettling, simple past and past participle nettled)

  1. (transitive) Of the nettle plant and similar physical causes, to sting, causing a rash in someone.
    • The children were badly nettled after playing in the field.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To pique, irritate, vex or provoke.
    • [T]his is no lavv unto the vvoof of the neat Retiarie Spider, vvhich ſeems to vveave vvithout tranſverſion, and by the union of right lines to make out a continued ſurface, vvhich is beyond the common art of Textury, and may ſtill nettle Minerva the Godeſſe of that myſtery.1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter II.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, pages 110–111

See all 26 meanings of nettle

Adjective

nettled (comparative more nettled, superlative most nettled)

  1. annoyed; offended
    • Mrs Fitzpatrick was a little nettled at this; and indeed, if it may not be called a lapse of the tongue, it was a small deviation from politeness in Jones, and into which he scarce would have fallen, had not the delight he felt in praising Sophia hurried him out of all reflection; for this...1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

Forms of nettled

comparativemore nettled
superlativemost nettled

Words formed from nettled

Questions about nettled

What does nettled mean?
Nettled means annoyed; offended.
What is nettled the simple past and past participle of?
Nettled is the simple past and past participle of nettle.
What part of speech is nettled?
Nettled is an adjective.

Words near nettled in the dictionary

  1. nettle-taps
  2. nettlebed
  3. nettlebeds
  4. nettlecloth
  5. Nettlecombe
  6. nettled
  7. nettlefish
  8. nettleleaf velvetberry
  9. nettlelike
  10. nettler
  11. nettlerash

Source and license

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