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Hurdle vs. Hurtle
Indistinguishable in speech, the words hurtle and hurdle can be a confusing pair.
Hurtle is a verb with two meanings: "to move rapidly or forcefully," as in "The stone was hurtling through the air," and "to hurl or fling," as in "I hurtled the stone into the air." Note that the first use is intransitive: the stone isn't hurtling anything; it itself is simply hurtling. The second use is transitive: something was hurtled—in this case, a stone.
Hurdle is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, its most common meanings have to do with barriers: the ones that runners leap over, and the metaphorical extension of these, the figurative barriers and obstacles we try to similarly overcome. The verb hurdle has two meanings, and they are directly related to these. It can mean "to leap over especially while running," as in "She hurdled the fence," and it can mean "to overcome or surmount," as in "They've had to hurdle significant financial obstacles." The verb hurdle is always transitive; that is, there's always a thing being hurdled, whether it be a physical obstacle or a metaphorical one.
Examples of hurtle in a Sentence
Leo Schwartz, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026
As the Volkswagen hurtled toward the Toyota, going roughly 50 mph on a residential street in Decatur, witnesses noticed something strange.
—Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 18 Feb. 2026
From charting the Milky Way with unprecedented precision to landing a probe on a comet hurtling through space, ESA has built a legacy defined by curiosity and collaboration.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 17 Feb. 2026
Instead of vaulting off the jump that's built to send skiers hurtling backward, Frostad defied physics and spun forward off that ramp.
—ABC News, 17 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hurtle
Cite this Entry
“Hurtle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hurtle. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
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