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
-
Two Southwest Airlines planes had to take evasive action to avoid colliding Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, after an air traffic controller directed one pilot to turn into the path of the other plane.—
Josh Funk,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
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But the push is already colliding with reality.—
Catherine Thorbecke,
Boston Herald,
18 Apr. 2026
Verb
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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
-
Kansas State transfer tight end Brayden Loftin played in 12 personnel looks with the first-team offense, mainly blocking, but bumping out to the slot, too.—
Aaron Heisen,
Daily News,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Video emerged online showing a red Ferrari shooting out of a tunnel along the highway at a high speed, slamming into a concrete barrier where the road curved and erupting into flames.—
Alexandra Del Rosario,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
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Hamadeh, who won his seat in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in 2024, also spent time in his speech slamming top Democrats with insults.—
Arizona Republic,
AZCentral.com,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Stand on the corner banging pots and pans.—
Tyler Estep,
AJC.com,
15 Apr. 2026
-
The Canucks took a 2-1 lead on a power play 52 seconds into the middle frame, banging home the loose puck off Brock Boeser’s shot past Kuemper for his 22nd.—
Daily News,
Daily News,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In footage shared by the BBC on X, Medvedev, who suffered a 6-0 6-0 loss during the 49-minute match, was filmed smashing up his tennis racket six times and angrily tossing it across the court.—
Gina Kalsi,
PEOPLE,
9 Apr. 2026
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At the nearly 17-mile-long circular particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that sits deep below the French Alps, CERN scientists recreated the quark-gluon plasma by smashing together atomic nuclei of iron at near-light speed.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Doing that at speed without crashing requires constant correction.—
Adriana James-Rodil,
FOXNews.com,
22 Apr. 2026
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The aircraft exploded minutes after takeoff from Colón, a Caribbean port city about 50 miles from the capital, before crashing without survivors.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Sun Sentinel,
21 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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Crews will be knocking door to door, assessing the damage in hopes of getting the state and federal emergency declarations for Ann Arbor, which could help residents pay for repairs.—
Jack Springgate,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
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An Idaho Statesman reporter was unable to reach Ricks for comment by calling a number believed to belong to Ricks and by visiting the property several times, knocking on his door and leaving notes.—
Idaho Statesman,
Idaho Statesman,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impinging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impinging. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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