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

On the previous episode of Lipps Service, Andrew Watt talked about growing up on Long Island and hustling around New York before becoming one of the most in-demand producers, songwriters and musicians in the world. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 13 Oct. 2026

Which is to say the agents are hustling — and even trying to submit to literary magazines — to stay alive. — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2026

Or why Georgia McCann, the hustling New York native, is shown working on her laptop from a bench in 180 Maiden Lane’s lobby. — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 29 Sep. 2026

And so there are friends who are hustling, pivoting to influencing in an effort to get money, to try to figure out how to capitalize on this moment. — Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026

Credit Xaiver Worthy for the hustling tackle of Jacob Rodriguez. — Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 27 Sep. 2026

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

Verb

That urgency has marked Holden’s prolific output—especially the thrilling first installment of his Supreme Magnetic series in 2025 and 2022’s Joe Frog—as the Harlem rapper uses his street-hustling past to paint an autobiographical portrait. — Matthew Ritchie, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026

The 30-second teaser sees Jackson hustling around town, making money and recruiting his team of crooks. — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Oct. 2026

After hustling in the industry for the better part of a decade, her profile has completely exploded over the past few months. — Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 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

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