as in struggling
to devote serious and sustained effort
the design team has been banging away at that project for months
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Recent Examples of banging away
Brian Cashman gets it all the time, but good, from Yankee fans; for them, banging away at Cashman on social media feels like the real national pastime.
—
Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2025
Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for banging away
Verb
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The officials described Pakistan’s monthslong effort leading the negotiations, struggling to keep both sides from walking out of the room and a total collapse of the negotiations on multiple occasions.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 June 2026
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The third spot, initially expected to go to Martín Zubimendi, now looks more likely to be Fabián Ruiz for the Cape Verde opener, with De la Fuente pragmatic about rotating in the early group games and with Zubimendi struggling for form later on in the club season.—
Sam Leveridge,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Verb
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The woodcut birth figures contained in these books were not images drawn from observation—pregnant cadavers for anatomical drawing were hard to come by—but were instead abstracted diagrams of the chaotic diversity of laboring bodies.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 June 2026
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Another laboring woman with the same image on her phone.—
Karli Swenson,
The Conversation,
11 June 2026
Verb
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The overarching message is that spatial computing is maturing, striving for seamless integration into daily life.—
Tim Bajarin,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
-
General Motors is among the Western automakers striving to match that blistering pace, by harnessing AI and simulation to dramatically shorten development times.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
17 June 2026
Verb
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The seven core collaborators – Kogonada, producer Chung An, producer Christopher Radcliff, producer-cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, and actor-producers Richardson, Mao and Jin Ha – collectively owned the project, splitting responsibilities and working without outside financing.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
15 June 2026
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Rowland has been taking one of these biologics—Ebglyss—and working with the makers of the medication—Lilly—to increase the awareness of eczema and available treatments.—
Bruce Y. Lee,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Banging away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/banging%20away. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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