as in struggling
to devote serious and sustained effort
the design team has been banging away at that project for months
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
That was punctuated by the incident in Dubai, which Raducanu said left her struggling to breathe properly in the immediate aftermath.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
-
The film follows Malik (Omar Epps), a gifted athlete struggling academically; Kristen (Kristy Swanson), a young woman discovering her voice; and Remy (Michael Rapaport), a student whose isolation turns dangerous.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
With The Fulfillment, the sub-context is how clout culture is a currency, how attention itself has become a currency, just like our laboring bodies are.—
Christopher Claxton,
Billboard,
19 Sep. 2025
-
While such a scenario sounds potentially maudlin and manipulative, Lucero — who wrote the film from a personal place — never allows that to happen by making the characters complex and flawed, and laboring under real-life issues.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Dispelling shame and striving for equality was a strategy used by fourteen women.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Much to the dismay of Gen Z striving for success with a manageable work-life balance, CEOs are adamant that intense schedules are essential for anyone looking to make it in business.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
13 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
For years, Bloom was hyped as a Silicon Valley unicorn, but in 2012 the SEC charged an investment bank working with Bloom of using inflated numbers to mislead investors.—
Jordan Blum,
Fortune,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Christiaan Triebert is a Times reporter working on the Visual Investigations team, a group that combines traditional reporting with digital sleuthing and analysis of visual evidence to verify and source facts from around the world.—
Danny Makki,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Banging away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/banging%20away. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share