lean on

verb

leaned on; leaning on; leans on

transitive verb

: to apply pressure to

They were leaning on the governor to pass the law.

Examples of lean on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If Monangai is limited, Chicago will lean on its quarterback’s legs even more. — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 2 Nov. 2026

Allen won’t have to lean on the blitz so much to create pressure. — Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 1 Nov. 2026

In overtime, the Cardinals and Cowboys traded three-and-outs before Arizona leaned on its productive run game and got into field goal range for the Chad Ryland’s 42-yard game-winner to avenge the missed PAT in regulation. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1 Nov. 2026

While chatbots and large models rely heavily on graphics processors from Nvidia and AMD, agentic applications such as Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots lean on CPUs to help orchestrate tasks and data from a computer operating in the cloud. — Katie Tarasov, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1960, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lean on

• anton
• argon
• axon
• baronne
• baryon
• baton
• boron
• buisson
• bygone
• capon
• cardon
• chiffon