How to Use thumbs-up in a Sentence

thumbs-up

noun
  • Tagged to the end of her text: a thumbs-up and sparkly heart emoji.
    Melissa Giannini, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2024
  • Williams was the next to last out, followed by Wilmore, who gave two gloved thumbs-up.
    Marcia Dunn, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Presti asked Paul his opinion on Daigneault, and Paul gave a thumbs-up.
    Anthony Slater, The Athletic, 15 Feb. 2025
  • Then there’s the quiet ones who will give a thumbs-up or a heart emoji.
    Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 16 Apr. 2023
  • Williams was next-to-last out, followed by Wilmore who gave two gloved thumbs-up.
    Marcia Dunn, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Barry gives the kit the thumbs-up for how quickly children can dive in and play.
    Korin Miller, wsj.com, 15 Nov. 2023
  • With that, the student gave a thumbs-up and skateboarded off.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 17 July 2023
  • President Biden and Obama gave the campaign to make D.C. the 51st state a thumbs-up.
    Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 22 July 2024
  • In the middle of the photo, Garcetti is smiling, giving two thumbs-ups.
    Tom Dreisbach, NPR, 3 Sep. 2024
  • The first time a photo of me appeared in The New York Times, my father sent a thumbs-up emoji.
    Adam Tendler, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2023
  • Look for a break in the heat waves, the first crisp morning, or the last true summer storm to give you the thumbs-up to hang a fall wreath on your front door.
    Kate McGregor, House Beautiful, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Yet when people see soldiers pass, many clap or give them a thumbs-up.
    Annie Correal Federico Rios, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2024
  • In that image, Connor could be seen giving a thumbs-up to the camera.
    Nicholas Rice, People.com, 18 Jan. 2025
  • Folks in cars were honking horns and giving thumbs-ups and waving.
    Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 15 July 2024
  • The thumbs-up that Trump gave while posing for the cameras wasn’t respectful.
    Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Sep. 2024
  • Video shows that Biden at one point walked toward a group of parachutists who had just landed and gave them two thumbs-up.
    David Ingram, NBC News, 19 June 2024
  • In the photo, Connor gave a thumbs-up to the camera and wore some nice golfing attire.
    Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 29 June 2024
  • Demonstrators stopped him for a photo or gave him a thumbs-up.
    Constant Méheut, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2023
  • In the first snap, Zendaya is dressed in full snorkeling gear, giving a thumbs-up to the camera.
    Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Before the ambulance left the field, Harris was able to motion a thumbs-up signal to the crowd.
    Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 16 Oct. 2023
  • 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
  • The Duke of Sussex took in the tribute with emotion as the crowd stood on their feet and cheered, fighting back tears and throwing a thumbs-up.
    Janine Henni, People.com, 17 Feb. 2025
  • The selfie shows the suspect smiling at the camera and giving a thumbs-up gesture.
    Lauren Del Valle, Jean Casarez and Holly Yan, CNN, 20 Mar. 2025
  • Garcetti stands next to the two men and others, smiling and giving a double thumbs-up gesture.
    Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2023
  • From thumbs-up to thumbs-downs, here’s how critics are reacting.
    Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
  • There are dozens and dozens of big thumbs-ups from happy customers, but your eye keeps landing on the few cranky complaints.
    Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 21 June 2024
  • Djokovic stopped, turned around and responded by giving two thumbs-up.
    Ryan Morik, Fox News, 24 Jan. 2025
  • Just a simple thumbs-up and silence to mark another day’s work.
    Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Mar. 2024
  • After waiting in line, Mr. Biden gave a thumbs-up to election workers at 12:23 p.m. ET.
    Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2024
  • By the end of the track, V gives all the performers a thumbs-up for a job well done and jokingly collapses into his seat.
    Starr Bowenbank, Billboard, 21 Sep. 2023

Some of 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.

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