as in bullets
a usually round or cone-shaped little piece of lead made to be fired from a firearm
the tightly packed pellets of a shotgun cartridge
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Recent Examples of pellets
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026
Sheila Morovati, founder and CEO of environmental nonprofit Habits of Waste and a longtime advocate pushing to make Hollywood more sustainable, notes that carpets don’t necessarily need to be broken down into pellets to get re-purposed.
—Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 22 Apr. 2026
Azure, by contrast, melts pellets made of recycled plastics and fiberglass.
—Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 21 Apr. 2026
The shotgun pellets ultimately struck another hunting mentor and their 7-year-old youth mentee in the head, back and hands, per the report.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 19 Apr. 2026
In 2025, results from the Advanced Test Reactor indicated that ANEEL fuel pellets maintained their structural integrity after several months of testing.
—Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 19 Apr. 2026
In addition to rain showers, parts of Ada County saw a sudden onslaught of snow pellets known as graupel, Groenert told the Idaho Statesman over the phone.
—Hali Smith, Idaho Statesman, 16 Apr. 2026
The pellets’ special coating is designed to gradually release food during warmer months when the plants are growing the fastest.
—Teresa Woodard, Midwest Living, 14 Apr. 2026
In the Ring video, a person dressed in black pants and a gray T-shirt, with a gray sweatshirt draped over his shoulder, chases two dogs down a residential street, spraying them with pellets from what looks like a gel gun.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026
Noun
Heating utilizes pellets made from wood offcuts from local forestry programs that would otherwise be thrown away.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026
Sheila Morovati, founder and CEO of environmental nonprofit Habits of Waste and a longtime advocate pushing to make Hollywood more sustainable, notes that carpets don’t necessarily need to be broken down into pellets to get re-purposed.
—Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 22 Apr. 2026
Azure, by contrast, melts pellets made of recycled plastics and fiberglass.
—Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 21 Apr. 2026
The shotgun pellets ultimately struck another hunting mentor and their 7-year-old youth mentee in the head, back and hands, per the report.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 19 Apr. 2026
In 2025, results from the Advanced Test Reactor indicated that ANEEL fuel pellets maintained their structural integrity after several months of testing.
—Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 19 Apr. 2026
In addition to rain showers, parts of Ada County saw a sudden onslaught of snow pellets known as graupel, Groenert told the Idaho Statesman over the phone.
—Hali Smith, Idaho Statesman, 16 Apr. 2026
The pellets’ special coating is designed to gradually release food during warmer months when the plants are growing the fastest.
—Teresa Woodard, Midwest Living, 14 Apr. 2026
In the Ring video, a person dressed in black pants and a gray T-shirt, with a gray sweatshirt draped over his shoulder, chases two dogs down a residential street, spraying them with pellets from what looks like a gel gun.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pellets
Noun
-
Concrete walls like the ones surrounding the Army facility in Kuwait were typical during the Global War on Terror, built to blunt bullets, rockets, mortars and ground-level blasts -- but not capable of defending against direct aerial strikes from drones.—
Chris Boccia,
ABC News,
27 Apr. 2026
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But less than an hour later, the same vehicle returned, and this time two passengers riddled Hughes’ car with bullets, authorities said.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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While mice are mostly optical now (instead of using balls), dust can still stick on the buttons.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
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The Royals won the match by six wickets, with four balls left, to keep them in fourth on level points with Royal Challengers Bengalaru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, one point off the top spot.—
Jessica Hopkins,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Like generations of potential treatments before it, KRSA-028 is designed to break down a protein called amyloid that clumps up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.—
Allison DeAngelis,
STAT,
18 Feb. 2026
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However, sometimes the abnormal IgA (the antibody that clumps up and causes problems) does run in families.—
Brandi Jones,
Health,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Most lumps such as these are noncancerous lipomas, or fatty tumors, and a decision on whether to remove them is based on whether the lumps interfere with movements or threaten other issues.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
16 Mar. 2026
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Advertisement Breaking it down Artificial intelligence is an umbrella-term for several different technologies, from autonomous vehicles to chatbots—and the database lumps these together without a comprehensive structure.—
Harry Booth,
Time,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pellets.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pellets. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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