feeler
/ˈfiːləɹ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.11 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Someone or something that feels.
noun
a presumptive person; someone who bases on gut feeling, such as assuming or imagining that something said or done, whether positive or negative, was for a person despite having no concrete confirmation but gut feeling, or someone who assumes one's affection is reciprocated, or indulges in one's own wishful thinking or flatters oneself
Example Sentences
- "Are you more of a feeler or more of a thinker?"
- "Her mate has tried to avoid this destiny. The male European mantis “uses his feelers to calm her down”, the BBC narrates."
- "I sent out some feelers but they didn't seem interested."
- "This survey is designed to get a feeler about how the citizens feel about the proposed new highway."
- "In 1905, the Russo-Japanese war fought itself to a standstill, and with the destruction of Rozhiestvensky's fleet at Tsushima, the Japanese, for financial reasons, had to put out feelers for peace."
- "Mr. Dayan's peace feeler would he more attractive to Cairo if it were accompanied by suggestions from Jerusalem, public private, for safeguarding Israeli security interests there without sacrificing Cairo's claim to ultimate sovereignty."
Etymology
From Middle English feler, feeler, felar, equivalent to feel + -er. Animal organ definition from 1660s. Transferred sense of "proposal put forth to observe the reaction it gets" is from 1830.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: feler
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfiːləɹ/
- British English: /ˈfiːlə/