as in lifting
to move from a lower to a higher place or position
craned her head to see the roof
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Recent Examples of craning
This color is eye-catching, turning heads and craning the necks of everyone from the elderly to state police.
—
Jesus R. Garcia, Houston Chronicle, 4 Jan. 2026
All of those spacecraft craning their necks to track a single object on command from Earth amount to nothing short of a sort of cosmic infrastructure, built and deployed by humans throughout their local solar system.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 20 Nov. 2025
Hours after word emerged of the federal buildup, several Oaklanders pulled up to the bridge off Embarcadero and Dennison Street leading to Coast Guard Island, craning their necks to see the buildup for themselves.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Jesus R. Garcia, Houston Chronicle, 4 Jan. 2026
All of those spacecraft craning their necks to track a single object on command from Earth amount to nothing short of a sort of cosmic infrastructure, built and deployed by humans throughout their local solar system.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 20 Nov. 2025
Hours after word emerged of the federal buildup, several Oaklanders pulled up to the bridge off Embarcadero and Dennison Street leading to Coast Guard Island, craning their necks to see the buildup for themselves.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for craning
Verb
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Skorniakov worked with him on axels using a harness and a pole, bracing and lifting as his son spun in the straps.—
Sally Jenkins,
The Atlantic,
1 Feb. 2026
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But Beshear hasn’t turned Trump-bashing into a 24/7 vocation, or a weight-lifting contest where the winner is the critic wielding the heaviest bludgeon.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Along with her late husband, the pair founded VIB, an anti-violence nonprofit dedicated to raising social awareness and aiding community causes in Boston, federal prosecutors said.—
Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
30 Jan. 2026
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During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden proposed raising the corporate tax rate.—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In the cavernous, warehouse-like space, the boys turn into physical exhibitionists, showing off for one another by hoisting heavy chunks of scrap metal and flinging them across the ruin.—
Natalia Winkelman,
IndieWire,
24 Jan. 2026
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Those Rams are also the only team to go from four wins one season to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy the next.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Verb
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In reality, the agency is elevating scientific rigor and economic reality over feel-good motivated reasoning.—
James Broughel,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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Drawing on her training, Santana performed lifesaving measures, including elevating legs to improve blood flow to the heart.—
Lou Ponsi,
Oc Register,
26 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Craning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/craning. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
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