egg (on)

verb

Definition of egg (on)next
as in to urge
to try to persuade (someone) through earnest appeals to follow a course of action though exhausted, I was egged on by spectators to finish the marathon

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for egg (on)
  1. urge
  2. encourage
Verb
  • As such, the group urged the USTR to reexamine the existing barriers to foreign trade and adopt new approaches.
    — Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Jim urged the chipmaker to take greater advantage of its $235 billion share buyback authorization during periods of weakness, pointing to former Apple CFO Luca Maestri's aggressive approach to repurchases as a model.
    — Alexa LoMonaco,Jeff Nash, CNBC, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of urge
Verb
  • In a statement, Gaspar said he was encouraged by the early results and the momentum behind his campaign.
    — Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
  • The company said the release is intended to encourage other researchers to build on the work and improve the technology.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of encourage
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.

Browse Nearby Words

egging (on)
egg (on)
egg on one's face
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Egg (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/egg%20%28on%29. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of defer

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All