bugging out

verb

present participle of bug out
1
as in retreating
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening the ground soldiers bugged out just before the start of the aerial bombing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in departing
to leave a place often for another the strange visitor bugged out without so much as saying a word

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 bugging out There’s a wonderful small moment midway through the season where Reilly’s lightly bugging out in his dingy apartment, shaking out his limbs at sharp, insectile angles to get comfortable. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 26 May 2026 Her baby's father answered the door with his eyes bugging out, and Frierson barged in to find two other guys, needles, spoons and powder on the table. — Brad Schmitt, The Tennessean, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bugging out
  1. retreating
  2. departing
  3. fleeing
  4. exiting
  5. flying
  6. moving
  7. bolting
  8. running along
Verb
  • Gabriel Moreno hit an RBI single in the fourth and, after Kyle Hart walked the bases loaded in the sixth, Perdomo cleared them with a double that bounced off the glove of retreating center fielder Jackson Merrill and then off the padded fence.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The brand has been retreating by the month back to its roots in Florida.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of retreating
Verb
  • Warner Bros Motion Picture chiefs De Luca and Pamela Abdy are departing.
    — Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Investigators have located the wreckage of a medical transport helicopter that crashed in the Pacific Ocean after departing Wednesday night from Santa Catalina Island, killing a pilot and a nurse.
    — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of departing
Verb
  • Witnesses to the March 8 shooting reported seeing a white Tesla Model 3 with a paper license plate fleeing the scene.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Attorneys for Carter, who is Black, have said witnesses saw a White man fleeing the crime scene and that an investigator suppressed evidence that could implicate other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.
    — Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of fleeing
Verb
  • More importantly, according to several insiders, in the midst of a shakeout that is seeing executives stay or exiting, DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are staying put.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026
  • At the end of all that immersiveness, exiting out onto the physical street to join the crowds of shuffling tourists and fend off sullen Elmos makes Times Square feel like the soul of authenticity.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of exiting
Verb
  • The move would allow milder, natural kratom products to continue flying under regulatory radar.
    — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 30 Sep. 2026
  • SpaceX wants to ensure that everything works before flying Starship back to Starbase.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of flying
Verb
  • The seconds-long loop consists of a purple image of a tank silhouette moving rapidly across the picture plane and patterned with what resemble dithered approximations of analog video interference.
    — Simon Denny, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The planning is meant to create flexibility for the president and commanders overseeing the war, these people said, by moving up to three aircraft carriers and their escort ships into the region in November.
    — Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of moving
Verb
  • Now every SaaS company that spent the last three years bolting AI features onto legacy infrastructure just got very expensive news.
    — Rafael Flores, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026
  • San Francisco is still bolting new pieces together, including fitting Mike Evans into the offense on the fly.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of bolting
Verb
  • Warm water running over, the feel of the grains between my hands, the sound of it like stones running along the pavement.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026
  • That money paid for the brick promenade now running along the Choptank River.
    — Josh Davis, Baltimore Sun, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of running along

Browse Nearby Words

bugging off
bugging out
buggy
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Cite this Entry

“Bugging out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bugging%20out. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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