Tackled

How to spell tackled

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tackled

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tackled mean?

1. verbMade a determined effort to deal with or solve a problem or task.
2. verbGrabbed and brought down an opponent, especially in football or rugby.

Tackled in a sentence

• She finally tackled the pile of paperwork that had been sitting on her desk for weeks.

• The defender tackled the striker just outside the penalty box.

• The council tackled the parking shortage by building a new multi-storey garage.

• He was tackled hard near the goal line and lost the ball.

Where does tackled come from?

Language of origin: Dutch

The base word tackle entered English in the 1300s from the Middle Low German or Middle Dutch word takel, which referred to the rigging, ropes, and pulleys used to work a ship's sails. From this nautical sense it broadened to mean equipment or gear of any kind, which is why anglers still speak of their fishing tackle. The verb grew out of the noun: to tackle something originally meant to harness or fasten it with such gear, and by the 1800s it had stretched to mean grappling with or seizing an opponent, especially in sport. From there it took on the everyday figurative sense of energetically taking on a problem or task. The past form tackled simply adds the regular -ed ending, and the doubled k of the root keeps the short vowel, while only one l survives before -ed.

How the word is built

• tackle (from Middle Low German takel: ship's rigging, equipment)
• -ed (past tense suffix)