# feel

Pronunciation: US say "FEEL" /fiːl/; UK

## Verb

1. To be in a particular emotional, mental, or bodily state, as in 'feel nervous', 'feel cold' or 'feel sick'.
   - Simple: To be in a certain mood or state of mind or body, such as happy, worried, tired or cold.
   - _I always feel sick on long bus rides, so I sit near the front._
   - _After talking with her sister, she began to feel much calmer about the move._
2. To hold a belief, opinion, or impression about something.
   - Simple: To think or believe something, or to have an idea or impression about it.
   - _Many voters feel the system is unfair._
   - _She felt it unwise to say more._
3. To seem a certain way, through touch or otherwise.
   - Simple: To seem a certain way when you touch it, or in some other way.
   - _It felt strange to be back in my old school._
   - _Parties like this always feel like funerals._
5. To be or become aware of something.
   - Simple: To notice something or sense that it is there.
   - _Children feel a quarrel long before they understand it._
   - _He felt eyes on him as he crossed the square._
8. To experience the consequences of something.
   - Simple: To suffer the results or effects of something.
   - _Small firms feel a tax rise first._
   - _We felt the effects of the strike for months._
11. To search for something or find one's way by touch, or to move forward cautiously, literally or figuratively, as in 'feel your way' or 'feel in a bag for keys'.
   - Simple: To use your hands to find something or find your way when you can't see, or to go carefully.
   - _Blind from birth, she could feel her way around any house._
   - _The negotiators felt their way toward a deal._
9. To receive information by touch or by any sense other than sight, smell, taste, or hearing.
   - Simple: To take in information through touch, or through senses other than sight, smell, taste and hearing.
   - _Snakes feel vibrations through the ground._
   - _Blind readers feel the raised dots of Braille to make out each letter._
12. To sympathize, or to have one's sensibilities moved.
   - Simple: To be sorry for someone and share their sadness, often used with 'for'.
   - _We all feel for the families of the crew._
   - _He felt for her, but he could not help._
13. To understand someone or what they mean. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: To understand what someone is saying.
   - _You feel what I'm saying?_
   - _She feels me, we don't need words._

## Noun

4. An understanding of something, or a natural ability with it, that comes from experience or intuition, as in 'get a feel for the job' or 'a feel for horses'.
   - Simple: An understanding of how something works, or a natural skill with it, as in 'she has a feel for music'.
   - _Walk the route once to get a feel for the climb._
   - _The first chapter gives you a feel for the whole book._
6. A perception experienced mainly or solely through touch.
   - Simple: The way something seems when you touch it.
   - _Silk has a cool, smooth feel._
   - _He liked the feel of the old tool in his hand._
7. An emotion or emotional state. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A mood or emotion that someone has.
   - _Nobody knows that feel better than a new parent._
   - _The song is all feels and no tune._
14. An act of fondling; a touch of someone's body.
   - Simple: A touch of someone's body, out of love or sexual desire.
   - _A feel in the dark of the cinema was as far as it went._
   - _He was fired after he tried to cop a feel at the office party._
10. The overall mood or impression created by a place, an object or a piece of creative work.
   - Simple: The mood or general quality that a place or thing seems to have.
   - _The band's new album has a darker, moodier feel than their earlier records._
   - _Exposed brick and old wooden beams give the loft an industrial feel._

## Noun

15. The sense of touch. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The ability to know what things are like by touching them.

## Origin

Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan became Old English fēlan, which in turn developed into Middle English felen.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/feel (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).