as in labored
to devote serious and sustained effort
it took days of digging away at the subject, but he understands it thoroughly now
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dug (away)
Verb
-
The team labored in home losses to Houston and the Los Angeles Chargers, with Mahomes ultimately suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the fourth quarter of that setback against the Chargers.—
Jesse Newell,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026 -
The administration has labored to frame the use of the military in Venezuela as a law enforcement action, since Maduro had outstanding warrants for his arrest in the United States.—
Garrett Downs,
CNBC,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Footage of the crash showed a towering wave of smoke and flames billowing skyward near the airport after the low-flying plane struggled to climb and then erupted into an enormous fireball on impact.—
Ray Sanchez,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
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Memphis struggled out of the gate on Friday night against a motivated Tulane Green Wave team that suffered an upset loss to UTSA in Week 10.—
Jordan Sigler,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Dumas has worked for Valero for four years but just moved to the Benicia location from Arizona a year ago, just a few months before the energy company announced a possible plan to cease or idle operations.—
Amanda Hari,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
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Steve Sarkisian worked for Saban twice at Alabama.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
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During his short time in office, Garfield endeavored to clean up the government.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Nov. 2025
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Padilla endeavored to make his mark early.—
Vann R. Newkirk II,
The Atlantic,
16 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Dug (away).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dug%20%28away%29. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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