1
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work
worked like a drudge at a low-paying job that had few benefits
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in drudgery
very hard or unpleasant work
it took hours of pure drudge to sort through the junk in the basement
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
factory workers who must drudge all day at repetitive tasks
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of drudge
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025
The corporate laborers of the industrial age were drudges, and might have needed the scaffolding of managerial hierarchies to make widgets in bulk.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2025
David Harsanyi, National Review, 8 June 2023
However, Todd Field’s first feature film in 16 years drudges up those exact dark secrets of manipulative conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett).
—Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 10 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for drudge
Noun
Offload drudge work and risky tasks so humans can focus on safer, more creative work.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 10 Sep. 2025
The corporate laborers of the industrial age were drudges, and might have needed the scaffolding of managerial hierarchies to make widgets in bulk.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2025
Verb
Aren’t those who drudge away at them anything but harmless?
—David Harsanyi, National Review, 8 June 2023
However, Todd Field’s first feature film in 16 years drudges up those exact dark secrets of manipulative conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett).
—Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 10 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for drudge
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drudge
Noun
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His death comes as scores of Palestinian laborers have been killed or arrested trying to enter Israel, and as violence flares in Gaza and the West Bank despite a fragile ceasefire.—
Samy Magdy,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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Here, Chinese laborers, factory workers, seamstresses, nail technicians, and cooks take glorious center stage, their lives and deepest yearnings made epic.—
Gabrielle Bellot,
Literary Hub,
29 May 2026
Noun
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As a break from the drudgery of surviving a fraught postgraduate landscape, Harris sought refuge in her imagination.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
IndieWire,
16 May 2026
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And then in parallel sequences, someone’s just doing the drudgery.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
15 May 2026
Verb
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The Thunder labored through a 111-103 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in a decisive Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.—
Mark Medina,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2026
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With evacuation shelters reaching capacity as more than 40,000 people were asked to leave their homes, officials laboring to prevent an explosion at a crippled chemical tank in Garden Grove reported tentative progress Sunday in ending the crisis.—
Deborah Netburn,
Los Angeles Times,
24 May 2026
Noun
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Gang intervention workers have been credited by city officials as one of the factors behind significant reductions in violent crime in recent years, with homicides and shootings both falling to near-historic lows.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
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The implosion occurred during a shift change, and the six workers whose bodies were found were in an area of the site where workers would go before their shift, Matt Amos, Longview fire battalion chief, said, per The Guardian.—
Adam England,
PEOPLE,
29 May 2026
Noun
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Eco effort Guests rarely need air conditioning thanks to the building’s passive design, which captures heat in the atrium and redistributes it through internal channels, creating natural heating and cooling from day to night.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 May 2026
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The $100,000 labor effort aims to counter more than $400,000 Bailey has received from individual donors and a committee supported by local business, including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 May 2026
Verb
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The 25-year-old midfielder struggled to settle after joining Spurs from Atletico Madrid in January for €40million.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
27 May 2026
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The combination of Randy Vásquez yielding solo home runs with two outs in each of the first three innings and the Padres’ ailing offense being unable to do much against previously struggling Phillies starter Aaron Nola was too much to avoid a third consecutive loss.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 May 2026
Noun
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Until then, they’re left with the tedious toil of prepping garden plots.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
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Westerners, Arabs and Indians dominate business and finance, while laborers from poor countries in Asia and Africa toil for long hours in scorching temperatures at oil facilities and construction sites — often with few protections.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Her 50-something protagonist, Alan Anderson, and his socially striving wife Vivian, are at least about to start thinking about where their family is going to go, once Alan retreats to a backyard playhouse.—
Bethanne Patrick,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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The Bears are also emphasizing ball placement with all of their quarterbacks, striving for pinpoint precision on throws as often as possible.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Drudge.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drudge. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
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