cramming

present participle of cram
1
as in squeezing
to fit (people or things) into a tight space tried to cram one more book into the backpack

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2
3
as in gorging
to fill with food to capacity one of those eating contests in which competitors attempt to cram themselves with as many hot dogs as they can in three minutes

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4
as in inhaling
to swallow or eat greedily the thoughtless guest crammed a dinner that had taken hours to prepare

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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 cramming An early 2022 op-ed in the University of Calgary’s student newspaper described the idea as the antithesis of hustle culture, one that finds satisfaction in mundane tasks rather than cramming productivity into every waking moment. Allison Palmer july 7, Charlotte Observer, 7 July 2026 This is an impressive chip, cramming nearly 100 billion transistors onto a piece of silicon roughly the size of a fingernail. John Koetsier, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 The trip took 76 days, with van Dongen splitting time between hours on his bike and cramming into an RV in parks and towns around the country. Kansas City Star, 24 June 2026 In recent weeks, NGOs helping the workers say the Cambodian authorities have stepped up detention of migrants for visa violations, cramming them in overcrowded detention facilities. Shibani Mahtani, NPR, 21 June 2026 At their core, Rush were always about glorious musical excess, routinely cramming more riffs and time signatures into single songs than some bands managed on entire albums. Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 10 June 2026 The two stayed up late into the night Monday, cramming information on each candidate. Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026 Clark agreed with Reinhart’s observations, but warned that the four-day workweek wasn’t so much as cramming a 40-hour week into four days as a genuine reduction to 32 hours, one that respected an employee’s life outside of work. Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 20 May 2026 But the line is shifting towards the Mediterranean Sea, cramming Gaza’s population into a shrinking strip of land. Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 14 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cramming
Verb
  • McGurk argued that, if the return of the hostages was the only way to end the war, then publicly squeezing Israel to protect civilians could paradoxically prolong the fighting, resulting in more Palestinian deaths.
    David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
  • De la Fuente’s forwards press aggressively, while centre-backs Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte hold a high defensive line, squeezing the pitch and pinning their opponents back.
    Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 20 July 2026
Verb
  • Previously, applicants were to be reviewed by a screening committee to suggest top applicants to the superintendent’s leadership team, who then sent a recommendation for filling the position.
    Maven Navarro, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 July 2026
  • Ultimately, the best bar complements a whole-food diet, filling nutritional gaps rather than replacing essential meals.
    Jess Cording, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Verb
  • There will be title defenses from Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo, who are the Michael Jordan and Diana Taurasi of gorging sausages.
    Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 4 July 2026
  • But gorging on pollen alone wasn’t enough to lengthen a life.
    Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026
Verb
  • Health effects from inhaling wildfire smoke But the effects are sweeping, said Hayden, who has developed real-time mapping of mortality estimates from wildfire smoke.
    Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 18 July 2026
  • In many cases, people contract the disease by inhaling tiny droplets of contaminated water.
    ABC News, ABC News, 17 July 2026
Verb
  • In the video, the rocker struts around in stage dressed in all black with slick white boots, jamming on his guitar.
    Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
  • The device uses a pealess design, which means there are fewer moving parts inside, and the risk of them jamming from sand or dust is much smaller.
    Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 15 July 2026
Verb
  • This gives you a huge 47% discount on a multisurface cleaner, packing 13,000Pa Vormax suction, an all-rubber anti-tangle floating brush, Smart Pathfinder mapping, and up to 300 minutes of continuous action.
    Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 22 July 2026
  • Whether heading to a sporting match, packing for vacation, or dressing for a summer night out, consider these outfit formulas your blueprint to styling polka-dot dresses right now.
    Kristina Rutkowski, Vogue, 21 July 2026
Verb
  • Political theory students still study their practical wisdom, often after devouring centuries of more speculative and theoretical texts.
    Steven Johnson, Washington Post, 14 July 2026
  • Many of them, like Tubbs, were refugee Midwesterners, sick of parching droughts and devouring plagues of locusts, the insects descending in buzzing clouds thick enough to blacken the noonday sun.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 July 2026
Verb
  • The demo kept loading or didn’t work at all across multiple tries.
    Prakhar Khanna, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • If temperatures are especially hot or cold, warm or cool your car before loading the plant, and head straight home.
    Colleen Sullivan, Martha Stewart, 21 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Cramming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cramming. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

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