Synonyms of hustling

hustling 1 of 2

adjective

as in driving

Related Words

• driving
• diligent
• industrious
• hungry
• dynamic
• enterprising
• motivated
• eager
• venturesome
• determined
• spirited
• lively
• venturous
• impassioned
• competitive
• energetic
• aggressive
• opportunistic
• animated
• gung ho
• vigorous
• pushy
• competing
• ardent
• avid
• assertive
• raring
• rival
• high-flying
• pushing
• aspiring
• pretentious
• keen
• ambitious
• hard-driving
• overambitious
• self-assertive
• go-getting
• rivalrous
• self-seeking

Dissimilar Words

• indifferent
• disinterested
• uninterested
• lackadaisical
• casual
• apathetic
• easygoing
• unexcited
• unenthusiastic
• lazy
• sluggish
• shiftless
• lethargic
• listless
• tepid
• halfhearted
• uneager
• lukewarm
• spiritless
• lazyish
• unaggressive
• unassertive
• unambitious
• ambitionless

hustling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of hustle

1

as in laboring

to devote serious and sustained effort

everyone really hustled to get the project finished on schedule

Synonyms & Similar Words

• laboring
• struggling
• striving
• working
• trying
• endeavoring
• toiling
• grubbing
• sweating
• plowing
• slaving
• tugging
• slogging
• drudging
• humping
• plugging
• plodding
• digging (away)
• straining
• moiling
• pegging (away)
• fagging
• travailing
• banging away
• attacking
• sweating blood
• driving
• beavering (away)
• applying (oneself)
• exerting
• buckling (down)
• scratching
• hammering (away)
• essaying
• exercising
• trudging
• scrabbling
• overworking
• wading
• pitching in
• digging in
• grinding (out)
• eking out
• overexerting
• knuckling down
• putting out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• breaking
• slackening
• loafing
• easing (up)
• idling
• lounging
• shirking
• chilling
• hanging (around or out)
• bumming
• resting
• lazing
• dallying
• letting up
• playing
• relaxing
• hacking (around)
• unwinding
• basking
• lolling
• goofing (off)
• hanging
• slacking (off)
• goldbricking
• reposing
• dabbling
• dillydallying
• footling
• trifling
• doodling
• fooling around
• messing around
• vegging out
• goofing (around)
• puttering (around)
• monkeying (around)
• pottering (around)
• hanging about
• fribbling

2

as in hurrying

to proceed or move quickly

we'd better hustle, or we'll miss the train

Synonyms & Similar Words

• hurrying
• rushing
• traveling
• scurrying
• racing
• speeding
• driving
• trotting
• flying
• chasing
• zipping
• buzzing
• running
• jumping
• scooting
• darting
• blowing
• stepping
• dashing
• blasting
• bustling
• scuttling
• tearing
• ripping
• whirling
• barreling
• zooming
• shooting
• bowling
• blazing
• jogging
• bolting
• ramming
• breezing
• careering
• careening
• hurling
• rustling
• hurtling
• haring
• humping
• hastening
• motoring
• bundling
• rocketing
• whisking
• jetting
• coursing
• nipping
• pelting
• belting
• galloping
• highballing
• cracking (on)
• bombing
• hying
• cannonballing
• flitting
• beating it
• scuffling
• scampering
• sprinting
• stepping on it
• hotfooting (it)
• making tracks
• whizzing
• accelerating
• getting a move on
• scudding
• shaking a leg
• stampeding
• streaking
• outrunning
• quickening
• overtaking
• beetling
• outpacing
• outstripping
• stepping out
• beelining
• catching up
• arrowing
• fast-forwarding

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• crawling
• creeping
• poking
• dragging
• lingering
• hanging (around or out)
• lagging
• poking
• loitering
• dawdling
• strolling
• shuffling
• sauntering
• ambling
• dallying
• plodding
• lumbering
• tarrying
• slowing (down or up)
• dillydallying
• decelerating

3

as in squeezing

to rob by the use of trickery or threats

a swindler who hustled cashiers by getting them all confused while they were making change

Synonyms & Similar Words

• squeezing
• cheating
• plucking
• stinging
• beating
• sticking
• screwing
• doing
• swindling
• bleeding
• defrauding
• rooking
• deceiving
• tricking
• fleecing
• chiseling
• shortchanging
• victimizing
• fiddling
• conning
• bilking
• mulcting
• suckering
• diddling
• gaffing
• exploiting
• stiffing
• reaming
• shorting
• fooling
• hosing
• skinning
• shaking down
• cozening
• extorting
• ripping off
• euchring
• flimflamming
• nobbling
• betraying
• chousing
• thimblerigging
• taking for a ride
• wrenching
• doing in
• taking to the cleaners
• clipping
• gouging
• skunking
• milking
• nicking
• soaking
• wringing
• overcharging
• gulling
• selling a bill of goods to
• wresting
• duping
• bitching
• double-crossing
• fast-talking
• bamboozling
• roping (in)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of hustling

Adjective

There’s a Santa Claus in a folding chair with a cardboard plank on two milk crates hustling tourists via three card monte. — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Aug. 2026

That the thirteen-year-old boy soprano from Harlem already knew a thing or two about hustling—that street precocity did not surface in his act. — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2026

For one of the men in particular, the type of hustling, defiant gay life that John Rechy describes in his nonfiction book The Sexual Outlaw is pivotal. — Emma Sarappo, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026

Paramount Primal is been hustling since being established late 2025. — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2026

Club Tengo Hambre can be credited with showing a generation of Instagram-users how to sink their teeth into the flavors of this hustling city. — Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Aug. 2026

The tech companies without Google’s cash cows will be left in an even weaker spot, which explains why Meta is hustling to launch its own cloud business. — Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 23 July 2026

And sometimes American Gangster does sound more like a canny career move than an artistic statement, with Jay leaning on cocaine puns like Clipse or Jeezy instead of sharing secrets of his hustling days. — Al Shipley, SPIN, 14 July 2026

There are few travel moments more deflating than racing through security, grabbing overpriced snacks, and hustling to your gate—only to find your flight has been canceled and the line to speak with an agent is already snaking around the concourse. — Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 4 July 2026

Verb

Besides Instagram hustling and scouring job boards, entrepreneurial editors find gigs when creators call out for help. — Andrew Zucker, HollywoodReporter, 7 Aug. 2026

Devers, who finished with three hits, eschewed his power for small ball in the fifth, laying down a surprise bunt for a single, then hustling home on Susac’s sacrifice fly. — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 31 July 2026

These slim-fit mid-rise joggers look perfect for hustling around a busy airport, but are also stylish enough to wear while sightseeing. — Kaitlin Gates, Travel + Leisure, 10 July 2026

Langford was injured during Friday’s game after hustling on a double. — Cal Phillips june 29, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026

Letting go of the idea that success requires hustling at all costs — and replacing it with goals that feel attainable — can help founders shift toward a more sustainable approach, one where progress doesn't come at the cost of their well-being. — Holly Eve, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Sweeney’s character, Cassie Howard, ends the final episode still hustling, despite the violent death of her husband Nate (Jacob Elordi), the passing of her high school friend Rue (Zendaya), and the dismantling of her OnlyFans account. — Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair, 9 June 2026

Clarkson now is showing his value hustling for 50-50 balls while no longer being a liability on defense — a trait that’s followed him throughout his career. — Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 3 June 2026

The ball trickled behind second, and Hoerner kept going, hustling his way to second. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2026