# feeler

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfiːlə/ · frequency rank #83,242

## Definitions
1. Someone or something that feels.
2. An antenna or appendage used for feeling, especially on an insect.
3. Something ventured to test another's feelings, opinion, or position.
4. 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

## 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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/feeler