bumping

verb

present participle of bump
as in banging
to come into usually forceful contact with something that police officer bumped into me and should have apologized

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 bumping These combined create a soundscape that'll keep you bumping and immersed in your audio. — George Yang, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026 Simply bumping the protein number on a label doesn’t produce those outcomes on its own. — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 23 Sep. 2026 This clamshell pack from Mystery Ranch has durable materials, solid stitching, and reinforced seams that help keep out dust from bumping around in a Land Cruiser. — Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026 Of course, Preece’s move into the field meant bumping out another driver. — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 5 Sep. 2026 Bonhams is bumping its buyer’s premium up to 30 percent from 28 percent for bids of £25,000 ($33,700) or less. — Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 2 Sep. 2026 Still, with the right conditions, getting close to beds without bumping deer becomes much easier. — Josh Honeycutt, Outdoor Life, 27 Aug. 2026 Against this stripped down but still bumping backdrop, Christmas and Crack’s loose, witty braggadocio shines. — Brendan Hay, SPIN, 24 Aug. 2026 In June, Luna hopped clumsily from one branch to another, bumping Sandy off her perch and sending her to a branch below. — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bumping
  1. banging
  2. colliding
  3. slamming
  4. smashing
  5. crashing
  6. knocking
  7. ramming
  8. hitting
Verb
  • Officers were responding to a house sitter who discovered the damage while checking on loud banging in the home’s rear, police said.
    — Dennis Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026
  • In 2015, Ben Hiscox died after falling backwards and banging his head on the clubhouse wall during an amateur game at Stoke Gifford, near Bristol.
    — Stuart James, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of banging
Verb
  • During the flyby, JUICE came to within 5,370 miles ( 8640 kilometers) of Earth, with careful adjustments made to help the probe avoid colliding with satellites around our planet.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Instead of quitting cold turkey, a growing group is carving out intentional pockets of offline time, a move that’s colliding with the analog aesthetic revival, phone-free spaces and friction tools designed to hand control back to the user.
    — Ashley Lynch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of colliding
Verb
  • New physics may only manifest at high-energy levels, the sort of energies that the LHC generates by slamming together protons at near light speed.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Suddenly, a 2004 Ford Expedition barreled into the intersection from the wrong direction at a high rate of speed, slamming into the middle of the bus.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of slamming
Verb
  • One panel was falling, then smashing on the path, lead relinquishing its long grip on the glass.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
  • The helicopter crashed in a driveway between two warehouses, smashing into a pair of truck cargo containers while the news crew tried grabbing video footage of a serious collision involving a Metro bus that also left two people dead.
    — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of smashing
Verb
  • But alas, eventually all involved have to get down to business and actually contend with the plot beats of Hoover’s story, which is when the movie careens off a cliff, plummeting past so-bad-it’s-good and crashing on the rocks of agonizingly dumb.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of crashing
Verb
  • For those who missed it, Stephens hit a sliding Moore in the helmet during the second quarter, knocking Moore out of the game and sending the star quarterback to the hospital down the street on a stretcher.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
  • To get the coach's side of the story, CBS News Detroit tried calling her, reaching out to her on social media, knocking on her door and writing her a letter.
    — Julia Avant, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of knocking
Verb
  • The son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States was critically injured Tuesday in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank, according to officials.
    — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 23 Sep. 2026
  • The ramming attack occurred just days after a shooting in the West Bank on the eve of the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur.
    — Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of ramming
Verb
  • Followin much teasing, Oasis will embark on an additional 2027 tour hitting stops once again in the United Kingdom and United States, but also Europe, which was omitted during last year’s trot.
    — Jaeden Pinder, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The film will open in select theaters on October 16 before hitting Netflix on December 2.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of hitting

Browse Nearby Words

bumpers
bumping
bumping into
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bumping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bumping. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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