1
as in keeping (to)
to give steadfast support to
continued to cling to the old ideas of child rearing long after they had gone out of fashion
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clenching
to have or keep in one's hands
clung to a pole in the subway car to keep from falling as it lurched along
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clinging (to)
Verb
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Majchrzak took off his cap and appeared to pass it to the boy who was clutching a giant tennis ball with both hands.—
Ben Morse,
CNN Money,
2 Sep. 2025 -
After Carpenter debuted the cover for her seventh studio album in June, some critiqued the image, which depicts the singer on her knees in a black dress as a man stands out-of-shot, clutching onto her hair.—
McKinley Franklin,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The album’s pointed cover, showing a dolorous schoolboy gripping a phone while holding a basketball, hints at the weighty revelations contained therein.—
Will Dukes,
Rolling Stone,
2 Sep. 2025
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Alibaba’s progress in AI—where it is considered among the front-runners in Chinese artificial intelligence development—helped gloss over concerns about the three-way battle gripping online commerce.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
1 Sep. 2025
Verb
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From Shakespearean comedies to Disney fairy tales, the sign of a life well lived is so often a woman standing by a man, vowing to obey and sealed with wedding bells.—
Leila Latif,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
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But creatine is standing by the ready, having stored up phosphates for just this occasion.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In the photo, Elordi stood behind Romy, holding a glass of wine as Romy stuck her tongue out at the camera.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
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The Packers controlled the line of scrimmage, holding the league’s top-scoring offense from 2024 to just 13 points.—
Zak Keefer,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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More than a month after his death, Ozzy Osbourne’s music has largely slipped away from the Billboard charts following the headline-grabbing news that one of rock’s founding fathers had passed away.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
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SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024.—
Eric Lagatta,
AZCentral.com,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The law currently gives prosecutors too much leverage in the courtroom and pressures defendants to take a plea deal over defending themselves at trial, Preston said.—
Quinlan Bentley,
The Enquirer,
3 Sep. 2025
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South Korea estimates that some 2,000 North Korean troops died defending Kursk against a cross-border incursion by Ukraine.—
Robert Birsel
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Clinging (to).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clinging%20%28to%29. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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