DRIVES Synonyms: 344 Similar and Opposite Words

drives 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of drive

as in runs

to urge, push, or force onward cowboys drove the herd of cattle from San Antonio to San Francisco

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Relevance

as in motors

to travel by a motorized vehicle I'm going to drive across the country—want to come?

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as in pushes

to apply force to (someone or something) so that it moves in front of one drove the plunger into the opening

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as in compels

to cause (a person) to give in to pressure the corrupt governor was driven out of office

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in activates

to cause to function machinery driven by waterpower

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as in moves

to set or keep in motion this motor drives the gears, which then turn the shaft

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as in speeds

to proceed or move quickly the runner drove past the finish line and then came to a dead stop

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drives

2 of 2

noun

plural of drive

as in highways

a passage cleared for public vehicular travel raced our motorcycles along the drive

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as in campaigns

a series of activities undertaken to achieve a goal a fund-raising drive for the school's marching band

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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 drives

Verb

Gen Alpha already drives nearly half of household spending and more than $100 billion in direct annual purchases. — Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 6 Nov. 2026 Rather than deliver a traditional acceptance speech, the actress settled in for an onstage conversation with Fonda that offered a glimpse into what drives her philanthropy and activism. — Paul Chi, Vogue, 6 Nov. 2026 Pancho and Ann, on the other hand, are two real examples of how this technology—and the neural circuits research that drives it—is actually being used to help patients. — Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2026 Penn called the Cybertruck part of Tesla’s adventurous spirit that drives innovation. — ABC News, 6 Nov. 2026 As demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing drives a rapid data center expansion, energy infrastructure is becoming one of the industry’s biggest challenges. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2026 For five years in Los Angeles, Travis Holcombe soundtracked solo living room dance parties, time spent getting ready for a night out and drives across town. — Katie Bain, Billboard, 5 Nov. 2026 The real advantage isn’t producing more content, but identifying what drives results faster. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 5 Nov. 2026 Lucy’s behavior may be frustratingly inconsistent, but many viewers will recognize the immeasurable suffering that drives it. — Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026

Noun

What to do nearby As with other safaris, days are bookended by morning and afternoon game drives, set largely around the east side of Madikwe, where the lodge is based (15 minutes from the airstrip). — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Nov. 2026 In Sunday’s loss to Arizona, the Cowboys gave up four consecutive touchdown drives in the second half to allow the Cardinals to force overtime before a game-winning field goal in the extra period. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Nov. 2026 The Great River Road is one of America’s most legendary drives. — Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 4 Nov. 2026 The Seahawks struggled to put together consistent drives, but when Bears tight end Colston Loveland had the ball stripped by DeMarcus Lawrence for a turnover that set up Seattle on the Bears 25-yard line, things got a little tense. — Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2026 The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups regularly target anti-polio drives and police protecting health workers, falsely claiming that polio vaccination campaigns are part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. — ABC News, 3 Nov. 2026 After 13 hours, the drives were synchronized, and the installation was complete. — John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 3 Nov. 2026 In some cases the questions were put on the ballot with petition drives by citizens frustrated with the actions - or lack of action - by their state lawmakers. — Jahd Khalil, NPR, 29 Oct. 2026 Lathan has participated in back-to-school drives for children in Florida and taught at youth football camps. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for drives

Verb

Hudson runs House Republicans’ campaign arm and was projected to keep his seat leading into Election Day.

— David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 4 Nov. 2026
Musk, who runs both firms, was poised to become one of the biggest beneficiaries of Republican victories and spent hundreds of millions of dollars in support of GOP candidates.

— Steve Kopack, NBC news, 4 Nov. 2026

Definition of runs

Verb

With the street protests contained, that pushes the economic issue—the protesters want more spending and fewer cuts, which the bond market is unlikely to tolerate—into next April’s elections.

— Jim Edwards, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2026
When a developer pushes code, Pando stores the incoming Git packfile in cloud object storage.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 Nov. 2026

Definition of pushes

Verb

Not the kind of empathy that simply allows someone to understand another person’s struggles, but the kind that compels them to do something about it.

— Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026
Here, Hendrikx plays anthropologist to a culture that compels each of us—whether a rider or not—to find our own vehicle for fulfillment, then take it to redline.

— Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of compels

Verb

The accumulating damage persistently activates the innate immune system—the body’s first line of defense—leading to what is known as inflammaging, functional decline and chronic diseases of old age.

— Kristel Tjandra, Hartford Courant, 30 Oct. 2026
For controls, the left earcup has a power button, while the right earcup has a noise-control button that activates your voice assistant when held down.

— Christian de Looper, PC Magazine, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of activates

Verb

As part of its process, the powered gimbal moves the image around in the general direction the projector's already facing, stopping the movement several times in the process before continuing, and adjusting the image size several times as well.

— M. David Stone, PC Magazine, 24 Oct. 2026
Flight testing moves forward L3Harris has reached the second phase of the Army’s Xtended Range Counter-sUAS Missile program.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of moves

Verb

The measure speeds permitting approval under the California Environmental Quality Act by placing deadlines on government agencies to issue or deny permits within a year.

— Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 4 Nov. 2026
Each landed as Meta, a Fortune 500 company that reported $201 billion in revenue last year, speeds up a shift from human reviewers to large language models.

— Molly A. Wallace, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2026

Definition of speeds

Noun

If El Niño brings storms that damage the road again, history suggests Caltrans will fix it, seemingly stuck in an endless loop of patchwork repairs for one of California’s most challenging mountain highways to maintain.

— Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2026
For example, campaign workers must remove signs placed within sight of state highways within 10 days after an election.

— Anne Ewbank, Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2026