kick in
verb
kicked in; kicking in; kicks in
1
: to begin operating or having an effect : get started
waiting for the heater to kick in
2
: to make a contribution
3
slang
: die
Examples of kick in in a Sentence
if everyone in the department kicks in, we can give him an especially nice present for his retirement
the ornery cuss finally kicked in at the ripe old age of 90
Recent Examples on the Web
When officers arrived, the resident showed them surveillance video of a man, later identified as Stephens, attempting to kick in the front door.
—
Cbs News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 3 Apr. 2026
Should both signal paths somehow fail the system is packaged with Mercedes rear-wheel steer option, which dials in up to 10 degrees of rear wheel steering input, and a third input will kick in to control the rear-wheel steering to enable the driver to pull over slowly.
—Joel Feder, The Drive, 2 Apr. 2026
That's probably because Earth had to build up oxygen levels high enough and evolution had to kick in with genetic changes, said University of California at Berkeley paleontologist Charles Marshall, who wasn’t part of the research.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
Surveillance footage showed that the man was punched and kicked in the head a number of times and appeared to have been stabbed multiple times in the back of his neck and head, police said in the warrant.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 2 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for kick in
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Cbs News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 3 Apr. 2026
Should both signal paths somehow fail the system is packaged with Mercedes rear-wheel steer option, which dials in up to 10 degrees of rear wheel steering input, and a third input will kick in to control the rear-wheel steering to enable the driver to pull over slowly.
—Joel Feder, The Drive, 2 Apr. 2026
That's probably because Earth had to build up oxygen levels high enough and evolution had to kick in with genetic changes, said University of California at Berkeley paleontologist Charles Marshall, who wasn’t part of the research.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
Surveillance footage showed that the man was punched and kicked in the head a number of times and appeared to have been stabbed multiple times in the back of his neck and head, police said in the warrant.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 2 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for kick in
Cite this Entry
“Kick in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kick%20in. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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