: an instance or gesture of approval or encouragement

Examples of thumbs-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Just a simple thumbs-up and silence to mark another day’s work. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2024 As Winslet recorded, Stephen Frears, one of the show’s two directors, guided Winslet with considerable understatement from his seat across the room: a half-nod here, a thumbs-up there. Susan Dominus, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2024 The boy had terrible burns on his face, Elder said, but despite the pain would lift his arm to give a thumbs-up. Niha Masih, Washington Post, 29 Feb. 2024 During the past six days of intense voting, Variety has been on the scene, chatting it up with over 50 AMPAS members to get the lowdown on which movies and performances have been getting the thumbs-up on their ballots. Clayton Davis, Variety, 28 Feb. 2024 Emirati pilot Ahmed al-Shehhi smashed into the water during his heat, going feet first but immediately popping back up to give a thumbs-up to rescuers. Jon Gambrell, Quartz, 28 Feb. 2024 Tagged to the end of her text: a thumbs-up and sparkly heart emoji. Melissa Giannini, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2024 Viewers can decide the nuances of the reactions in between, giving the ultimate thumbs-up or fatal thumbs-down. Steffi Cao, Glamour, 16 Feb. 2024 Advertising revenue has plunged as much as 60% (according to Musk himself), amid ongoing concerns about hate speech and misinformation — which has included Musk’s thumbs-up of an antisemitic post on X that led to an exodus of advertisers including Disney. Todd Spangler, Variety, 9 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thumbs-up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of thumbs-up was in 1892

Dictionary Entries Near thumbs-up

Cite this Entry

“Thumbs-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thumbs-up. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

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