tackled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of tackle.

   The defender tackled the striker just outside the penalty area.

   We finally tackled the leaking roof after months of delay.

   Note

   One spelling does the work of two verb forms. It is the simple past (she tackled the striker) and the participle after have or be (the roof has been tackled). It carries every meaning of tackle: bringing down a ball carrier, trying to take the ball, facing a problem, and, in colloquial Singapore use, pursuing someone one is interested in. The participle also settles into adjectives, as in the 'brought down' sense.

2. 2
   adjective

   Forced down to the ground, especially by an opposing player during a game.

   The tackled forward rose slowly, clutching his shoulder.

   Referees called a foul for a late hit on the tackled winger.

   Similardowned

   Note

   Rugby gives this adjective most of its work. The tackled player is a recognized figure in the game's rules, obliged to pass or release the ball at once. The word usually sits before its noun (tackled player, tackled winger), and it travels beyond sport. In Daren Worcester's Open Season (2017), a "tackled suspect" has been brought down by force. Unlike the 'dealt with' sense, it does not take more or most.

3. 3
   adjective

   Addressed or dealt with as a problem or challenge.

   The tackled issues were documented in the project's final report.

   Each tackled assignment freed up time for the next one.

   Similaraddressed, handled

   Oppositeunaddressed

   Note

   The figurative adjective grades, and it is at home in academic prose. Surveys and literature reviews rank subjects as "the fourth most tackled research topic" or "one of the most tackled issues", as in The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives (2020). The construction sometimes trails a by-phrase ("the most tackled element by literature"). Careful writers often recast this as "the element most often tackled".

4. 4
   adjective

   Constructed from ropes fastened together, as with rigging gear.

   The tackled netting was strong enough to hoist heavy cargo.

   They repaired the tackled rope harness before the next voyage.

   Note

   A rigger's word that Shakespeare puts to romantic use. In Romeo and Juliet (c. 1591–1595) the promised cords are "made like a tackled stair", a ladder knotted out of rope. Here tackled looks back to the noun tackle, the ropes and hooks of a hoisting device, rather than to any verb of grappling. The adjective does not grade: a ladder is made this way or it is not, so more tackled has no place here.

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