threw

Threw is the simple past tense of the verb throw. It describes the act of propelling something through the air or in a particular direction, typically with a quick motion of the arm or body. The action is usually transitive, as in "she threw the ball," but it can appear with intransitive or extended senses in phrases such as "the crowd threw up their hands" or "they threw in the towel" in idiomatic uses.

The standard past participle is thrown, used with auxiliary verbs in perfect tenses and in passive constructions: "they have thrown," "the ball was thrown." The present participle is throwing. The pronunciation of threw is typically /θruː/ in most varieties of English, and throw is /θroʊ/.

Origin and related forms: throw is of Germanic origin, with cognates in Dutch werpen and German werfen. The irregular past tense threw arose through historical vowel changes in the language’s strong-verb system.

Usage notes: threw is used in a wide range of contexts, including sports (throw a ball), actions of casting or discarding (throw away, throw out), and idiomatic expressions (throw a party, throw shade). When describing completed actions, thrown (the past participle) is used with have, had, or will have: "has thrown," "had thrown," "will have thrown."

Examples: He threw the ball toward first base. They threw their doubts aside. The plan was thrown into doubt.