chisel
1 of 2noun
chis·el ˈchi-zᵊl 
: a metal tool with a sharpened edge at one end used to chip, carve, or cut into a solid material (such as wood, stone, or metal)
chisel
2 of 2verb
chiseled or chiselled; chiseling or chiselling ˈchi-zə-liŋ
ˈchiz-liŋ
transitive verb
1
: to cut or work with or as if with a chisel
2
: to employ shrewd or unfair practices on in order to obtain one's end
also : to obtain by such practices
chisel a job
intransitive verb
1
: to work with or as if with a chisel
2
a
: to employ shrewd or unfair practices
b
: to thrust oneself : intrude
chisel in on a racket
chiseler noun
or chiseller
ˈchi-zə-lər
ˈchiz-lər
Synonyms
Verb
- beat
- bilk
- bleed
- cheat
- chouse
- con
- cozen
- defraud
- diddle
- do
- do in
- euchre
- fiddle
- fleece
- flimflam
- gaff
- hose [slang]
- hustle
- mulct
- nobble [British slang]
- pluck
- ream
- rip off
- rook
- screw
- shake down
- short
- shortchange
- skin
- skunk
- squeeze
- stick
- stiff
- sting
- sucker
- swindle
- thimblerig
- victimize
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Verb He chiseled off a corner of the block. Letters were chiseled into a wall.
Recent Examples on the Web
Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2022 Use a chisel to carefully remove the excess material until the new faceplate will fit. Kamron Sanders, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Aug. 2022 Make a hole in the ice using an ice chisel, auger, or cordless drill. Whitney Spivey, Outside Online, 29 Jan. 2013 It’s as if she’s been carved like an archetypal totem, but with matte and glossy house paint, charcoal and oil paint on canvas rather than with a chisel or an adze from stone or wood. Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2022 Saraceno is a reminder that the gulf between science and art is a relatively recent distinction, and that, once, an artist wasn’t just limited to a paintbrush or a chisel. New York Times, 7 Feb. 2022 Their tools included a chisel and a green plastic rake that Péray had appropriated from his children’s sandcastle equipment. Simon Akam, Outside Online, 8 June 2021 Versatile artists like Michelangelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Antonio Canova based their immense artistic authority on their skill with the lowly chisel. Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2022 If Durant is a painter with a palette of fine watercolors, Antetokounmpo is a sculptor wielding a mallet and a chisel. New York Times, 1 May 2022 Charlyne Mattox, Country Living, 15 July 2022 The Urabeños were starting gun battles on another stretch of river in their latest bid to chisel their way into FARC territory. Jason Motlagh, Outside Online, 19 July 2016 Try this workout—Reeves’ original—and chisel your own legendary physique. Men's Health, 24 Apr. 2022 The Trojans trailed 49-42 with 6:45 to go, but USC would chisel that down to two on a three-pointer from Tera Reed. Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2022 Creating the seven courses there required extensive blasting to chisel ski runs out of gray cliffs near the Great Wall. New York Times, 22 Jan. 2022 Since then, there's been a campaign to chisel away at the truth of what really went down. Andrea Towers, EW.com, 20 Jan. 2022 Players have 10 minutes to chisel out the shape from the treat or be shot to death. Hahna Yoon, Wired, 13 Oct. 2021 Johnson worked out with Montgomery every day during the pandemic, and helped chisel his frame into rock-hard muscle. Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland, 30 Oct. 2021 See More
Noun
Get sloppy with the chisel and a few priceless eons of natural history could crumble under your work gloves. Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2022 Use a chisel to carefully remove the excess material until the new faceplate will fit. Kamron Sanders, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 Aug. 2022 Make a hole in the ice using an ice chisel, auger, or cordless drill. Whitney Spivey, Outside Online, 29 Jan. 2013 It’s as if she’s been carved like an archetypal totem, but with matte and glossy house paint, charcoal and oil paint on canvas rather than with a chisel or an adze from stone or wood. Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2022 Saraceno is a reminder that the gulf between science and art is a relatively recent distinction, and that, once, an artist wasn’t just limited to a paintbrush or a chisel. New York Times, 7 Feb. 2022 Their tools included a chisel and a green plastic rake that Péray had appropriated from his children’s sandcastle equipment. Simon Akam, Outside Online, 8 June 2021 Versatile artists like Michelangelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Antonio Canova based their immense artistic authority on their skill with the lowly chisel. Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2022 If Durant is a painter with a palette of fine watercolors, Antetokounmpo is a sculptor wielding a mallet and a chisel. New York Times, 1 May 2022 Verb
Use a potter's needle to indent the outline, then chisel out using a potter's ribbon tool. Charlyne Mattox, Country Living, 15 July 2022 The Urabeños were starting gun battles on another stretch of river in their latest bid to chisel their way into FARC territory. Jason Motlagh, Outside Online, 19 July 2016 Try this workout—Reeves’ original—and chisel your own legendary physique. Men's Health, 24 Apr. 2022 The Trojans trailed 49-42 with 6:45 to go, but USC would chisel that down to two on a three-pointer from Tera Reed. Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2022 Creating the seven courses there required extensive blasting to chisel ski runs out of gray cliffs near the Great Wall. New York Times, 22 Jan. 2022 Since then, there's been a campaign to chisel away at the truth of what really went down. Andrea Towers, EW.com, 20 Jan. 2022 Players have 10 minutes to chisel out the shape from the treat or be shot to death. Hahna Yoon, Wired, 13 Oct. 2021 Johnson worked out with Montgomery every day during the pandemic, and helped chisel his frame into rock-hard muscle. Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland, 30 Oct. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, from Anglo-French *chisel, cisel, from Vulgar Latin *cisellum, alteration of caesellum, from Latin caesus, past participle of caedere to cut
First Known Use
Noun
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Verb
1509, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Phrases Containing chisel
Kids Definition
chisel 1 of 2
noun
chis·el ˈchi-zəl
: a metal tool with a sharp edge at the end of a usually flat piece used to chip away stone, wood, or metal
chisel
2 of 2verb
chiseled or chiselled; chiseling or chiselling
: to cut, shape, or carve with a chisel
A name was chiseled into stone.
Medical Definition
chisel
noun
chis·el ˈchiz-əl
: a metal tool with a cutting edge at the end of a blade
especially : one used in dentistry (as for cutting or shaping enamel)
chiseling 1 of 2
noun
variants or chiselling
as in swindling
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- swindling
- defrauding
- gouging
- skinning
- extortion
- cheating
- fleecing
- overcharging
- highway robbery
chiseling
2 of 2verb
variants or chiselling
as in plucking
to rob by the use of trickery or threats ruthlessly chiseled other students out of their lunch money Synonyms & Similar Words
- plucking
- hustling
- squeezing
- cheating
- screwing
- sticking
- beating
- bleeding
- reaming
- swindling
- defrauding
- fiddling
- fleecing
- mulcting
- wrenching
- tricking
- rooking
- hosing
- gaffing
- diddling
- skinning
- victimizing
- suckering
- bilking
- shortchanging
- stiffing
- conning
- stinging
- gouging
- shorting
- chousing
- cozening
- doing
- extorting
- thimblerigging
- deceiving
- euchring
- nobbling
- shaking down
- wresting
- clipping
- soaking
- ripping off
- nicking
- milking
- skunking
- exploiting
- doing in
- fooling
- taking to the cleaners
- wringing
- taking for a ride
- flimflamming
- overcharging
- gulling
- selling a bill of goods to
- duping
- betraying
- bitching
- bamboozling
- double-crossing
- roping (in)
- fast-talking
