as in laboring
to devote serious and sustained effort
grubbing away at the yard work before the first snow of the season
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Recent Examples of grubbing
Double-bass glissandos hint at hands grubbing in the earth, while abrupt moments of concerted action—notably, an accordion wheezing out an F-sharp-minor chord—suggest flickering signals and transmissions.
—
Alex Ross, New Yorker, 18 May 2026
Released in 1958, Attack told of a wealthy heiress, fresh from a stint at a mental institution, who is turned into a giantess and then deals with her philandering husband and his no-good, money-grubbing floozy.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 9 Jan. 2026
Alex Ross, New Yorker, 18 May 2026
Released in 1958, Attack told of a wealthy heiress, fresh from a stint at a mental institution, who is turned into a giantess and then deals with her philandering husband and his no-good, money-grubbing floozy.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 9 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grubbing
Verb
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The woodcut birth figures contained in these books were not images drawn from observation—pregnant cadavers for anatomical drawing were hard to come by—but were instead abstracted diagrams of the chaotic diversity of laboring bodies.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 June 2026
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Another laboring woman with the same image on her phone.—
Karli Swenson,
The Conversation,
11 June 2026
Verb
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The overarching message is that spatial computing is maturing, striving for seamless integration into daily life.—
Tim Bajarin,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
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General Motors is among the Western automakers striving to match that blistering pace, by harnessing AI and simulation to dramatically shorten development times.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
17 June 2026
Verb
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The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country’s struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.—
Regina Garcia Cano,
Chicago Tribune,
21 June 2026
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The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country's struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 June 2026
Verb
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Davidson is more steeped in Democratic politics, including working for years as a political consultant and winning a county legislature seat in 2023.—
Chris McKenna,
USA Today,
22 June 2026
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These startups are working with a range of different non-invasive sensor modalities, including those that measure electrical pulses (EEG), those that measure magnetic fields (MEG), and those that use light to measure changes in blood flow (fNIRS).—
Rob Toews,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Grubbing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grubbing. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
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