as in pull
the act or an instance of applying force on something so that it moves in the direction of the force
gave the man in front a tug on his shirtsleeve as a sign that he was supposed to step aside
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
2
as in to struggle
to devote serious and sustained effort
she's tugged all her life to get to where she is now in the business world
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tug
Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 31 July 2025
The nearby fire department rushed by boat to the crash site and were assisted by a private tug boat that helped douse the fire that belched black smoke from the barge, said Alton Deputy Fire Chief Matt Fischer.
—Jesse Bedayn, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2025
Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 19 June 2025
The roof and each side features an X-frame segment that converges at a central hub, and owners simply pull the structure into place by tugging on the loop on the outside of the hub.
—New Atlas, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for tug
Noun
Two people aboard a tug and barge that collided with a summer camp sailboat in Biscayne Bay on Monday morning, resulting in the deaths of two children, tested negative for drugs and alcohol, as well as the person who was operating the sailboat, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
—Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 31 July 2025
The nearby fire department rushed by boat to the crash site and were assisted by a private tug boat that helped douse the fire that belched black smoke from the barge, said Alton Deputy Fire Chief Matt Fischer.
—Jesse Bedayn, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2025
Verb
Fairies and sprites could reach across the thin membrane between worlds, leaving gifts, sharing secrets, or tugging human heroes from one universe to the other.
—Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 19 June 2025
The roof and each side features an X-frame segment that converges at a central hub, and owners simply pull the structure into place by tugging on the loop on the outside of the hub.
—New Atlas, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for tug
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tug
Noun
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They aren’t constrained by attention spans or the pull of conformity.—
Neeraj Gulati,
Forbes.com,
18 Aug. 2025
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Architect and San Diego native Mark Silva couldn’t resist the pull.—
Jen Murphy,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Twice in his tenure, Xi has even hauled the entire high command to historic revolutionary sites where Mao institutionalized the party’s control of the military, reinforcing the military’s role as the armed wing of the Communist Party.—
JONATHAN A. CZIN,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Aug. 2025
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About twelve years ago, a contractor named Geary Blackwood hauled a massive flint rock to one of his properties, on a busy highway, to mark a row of mailboxes that kept getting mowed down.—
Paige Williams,
New Yorker,
18 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The state’s newest theory is that Zeigler wore a raincoat while shooting his wife and mother-in-law (who was shot with two different guns) and struggling with his father-in-law — despite the customer having the father-in-law’s blood soaked into his pants.—
Gail Hollenbeck,
The Orlando Sentinel,
15 Aug. 2025
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Yet this new Klan version struggled to get started, and in spite of the less-than-liberal social leanings of America in the late 1910s, membership lagged.—
Jody Mamone,
Hartford Courant,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Running on a level surface (in supportive shoes—see above!) can serve as plenty a cardio workout without the extra yank on your plantar fascia.—
Erica Sloan,
SELF,
20 June 2025
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Four yanks later, voila: Clayton had pulled free his prize, leaving just a single strand of nylon stuck in the Alamodome rim.—
Brendan Marks,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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In doing so, the currents drag swimmers out into open waters.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
16 Aug. 2025
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One person would hold the rod and drag ashore a thrashing, 200-pound sawfish.—
Jack Prator,
The Orlando Sentinel,
16 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In this way, AI allows PR folks to compare and contrast strategies quickly rather than laboring over a single version.—
Daniel Lotzof,
Forbes.com,
13 Aug. 2025
-
In the years since Trump pulled off his shocking upset victory over Hillary Clinton, the Democrats have been laboring under a series of myths about themselves and Trump that have compelled them to continue digging their own graves.—
Isaac Schorr,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Vendors sold spicy dishes traditional to their countries like Jamaican jerk chicken and tacos from Mexico and the not-so-spicy, like raclette, a dish traditional to Switzerland, where molten cheese from a wheel of raclette cheese is poured over potatoes and other foods.—
Dominick Williams
August 17,
Kansas City Star,
17 Aug. 2025
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Bertha was right, George is being a jerk, and Larry needs to wipe that smug smile off his face.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
11 Aug. 2025
Verb
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With a holistic view of organizational needs and resources, cognitive tools strive not simply to accelerate existing processes but to develop new approaches in real time to optimize actions across the entire value chain.—
Gurdip Singh,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
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The series has never strived to be anything more than opulent fluff, but it still gets consistently pilloried for its lack of realism.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
15 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tug.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tug. Accessed 27 Aug. 2025.
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