as in colliding
to come into usually forceful contact with something
hail was noisily impinging upon the car's exterior
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Recent Examples of impinging
Upgrades will require significant reinforcement of some walls and elevator shafts, though engineers have found ways to do the work by pouring new concrete footings and installing additional steel bracing without significantly impinging on internal spaces or being visible on exterior surfaces.
—
Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2026
In principle, besides fluctuating stars transients can be associated with other things, too, such as extreme space weather events impinging on the upper atmosphere, sunlight glinting off reflective objects near Earth, as well as flaws in the telescope or the imaging process.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2025
Workers aren’t necessarily worried about AI impinging on their jobs – a large majority, 80%, view AI technologies, including gen AI, as more of an opportunity than a threat.
—Joe McKendrick, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Democrats are apoplectic, accusing Trump of impinging on the Fed’s independence.
—Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 26 Aug. 2025
Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2026
In principle, besides fluctuating stars transients can be associated with other things, too, such as extreme space weather events impinging on the upper atmosphere, sunlight glinting off reflective objects near Earth, as well as flaws in the telescope or the imaging process.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2025
Workers aren’t necessarily worried about AI impinging on their jobs – a large majority, 80%, view AI technologies, including gen AI, as more of an opportunity than a threat.
—Joe McKendrick, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Democrats are apoplectic, accusing Trump of impinging on the Fed’s independence.
—Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 26 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impinging
Verb
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Video of the crash taken by eyewitness Allie Cardoza, who was in a nearby vehicle at the time, shows the train colliding with the front of a black SUV.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
27 Apr. 2026
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The 22-year-old went down after colliding with Wolves’ Hugo Bueno while trying to keep the ball in play, and appeared in pain.—
Dan Kilpatrick,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Back-rower Abi Burton had to lock for the first time, 19-year-old back-rower Demelza Short debuted, and Emma Sing got a shot at fullback, bumping Ellie Kildunne to the wing.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
18 Apr. 2026
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Five years later, Marquinhos was chest-bumping Thiago Silva, his countryman and mentor at PSG, after forcing Mohamed Salah to run the ball out of play at the Parc des Princes for Liverpool.—
Stuart James,
New York Times,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar quickly responded on X, slamming his Ukrainian counterpart for conducting diplomacy on social media.—
Yuliya Talmazan,
NBC news,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Trump’s remarks came hours after the first lady released a statement slamming Kimmel for the comment.—
Sydney Topf,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Jurors then heard sounds of banging and choking and Athena screaming and crying, the Star-Telegram reports.—
KC Baker,
PEOPLE,
22 Apr. 2026
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On the night he was arrested, Martinez confessed to shaking Heather and banging her head against a crib, but later recanted that confession.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But as anyone who’s dropped a mug knows, ceramics are also brittle and prone to smashing.—
Caitlin Kennedy,
Scientific American,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Police officers arrived at her Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles and learned that the attackers had left the woman inside after allegedly smashing her jaw and choking her.—
Francie Ebert,
NBC news,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The substitute looks up and sends a shot crashing against the post from a tight angle.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
-
There was a big crashing sound.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In the first shooting, Homeland Security officials accused a man of weaponizing his car and ramming a law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee.—
Ruben Vives,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Apr. 2026
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Watson founded the global Sea Shepherd conservation movement in the 1970s and for decades won a fearsome reputation for ramming vessels and other aggressive tactics in confrontations on the high seas that repeatedly landed him in jail.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Iranians have been knocking around in the United States’ critical infrastructure for years.—
Sue Halpern,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
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Serve it at room temperature so the salad on top won't wilt (and the cooking is complete before the guests come knocking).—
Ashlyn Ware,
Midwest Living,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impinging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impinging. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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