buoys (up)

verb

present tense third-person singular of buoy (up)
as in encourages
to fill with courage or strength of purpose the sudden improvement in his health buoyed him up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for buoys (up)
  1. encourages
  2. inspires
Verb
  • Applied to a solo outing, that approach encourages diners to appreciate the meal in front of them instead of scrolling through their phones.
    — Ashley Lynch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Jordan says a recent guideline change encourages doctors to diagnose and treat sooner based on symptoms.
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of encourages
Verb
  • There is a near-identical robot to be found at Jalsa, an Indian restaurant in my Brooklyn neighborhood, where its presence inspires the same frisson of novelty as a hands-off steering wheel.
    — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • This inspires Other Mommy to gruesomely kill Frank in front of Bela, including blowing his head up in an outrageous explosion of blood.
    — William Earl, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of inspires
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.

Browse Nearby Words

buoys
buoys (up)
buoy (up)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Buoys (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/buoys%20%28up%29. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 16
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All