1
as in encroaching
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits
every year the water inches further up the embankments, threatening to permanently engulf the island city
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in dragging
to move slowly
the car inched carefully across the snow-covered causeway
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in imperceptible
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in ambling
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of inching
Ronnie Li, USA Today, 23 Oct. 2025
High above the cold, clear waters of the Gulf of Alaska, the mountains are moving, inching down toward the water line.
—Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
Chefs from culinary hotspots like Los Angeles, New York City, and Mexico City have opened Austin restaurants, and the average price of a restaurant entree and a craft cocktail seems to be inching up every day.
—Taylor Tobin, Southern Living, 20 Oct. 2025
This is beyond unexpected now, and inching closer to unbelievable.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
Genetic risk tests for type 1 diabetes are inching closer to use in clinical care.
—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025
Wildlife managers assure us bears are doing well, but is this sustainable — especially when the mortality rate keeps inching upward year after year?
—Molly Absolon, Denver Post, 14 Oct. 2025
The total effect of those associations was slowly inching upward, and many scientists hoped to soon be able to make meaningful predictions of IQ based on DNA.
—Eric Turkheimer, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2025
Her convex Christian Louboutin platforms, engineered in collaboration with Matières Fécales, extend a runway experiment that has been inching its way into celebrity wardrobes since March.
—Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
While enjoying lunch at The Drexel in South Beach, Kevin Sabo and his husband, Samuel Richardson noticed the furry culprit inching closer to his table.
—Ronnie Li, USA Today, 23 Oct. 2025
High above the cold, clear waters of the Gulf of Alaska, the mountains are moving, inching down toward the water line.
—Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
Chefs from culinary hotspots like Los Angeles, New York City, and Mexico City have opened Austin restaurants, and the average price of a restaurant entree and a craft cocktail seems to be inching up every day.
—Taylor Tobin, Southern Living, 20 Oct. 2025
This is beyond unexpected now, and inching closer to unbelievable.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025
Genetic risk tests for type 1 diabetes are inching closer to use in clinical care.
—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025
Wildlife managers assure us bears are doing well, but is this sustainable — especially when the mortality rate keeps inching upward year after year?
—Molly Absolon, Denver Post, 14 Oct. 2025
The total effect of those associations was slowly inching upward, and many scientists hoped to soon be able to make meaningful predictions of IQ based on DNA.
—Eric Turkheimer, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2025
Her convex Christian Louboutin platforms, engineered in collaboration with Matières Fécales, extend a runway experiment that has been inching its way into celebrity wardrobes since March.
—Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inching
Verb
-
The partnership was formed to address the invasive trees and shrubs encroaching on the natural grasslands in TNC's Folsom Point Preserve in Iowa, which is located just over 12 miles from Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.—
Kelli Bender,
PEOPLE,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Ideal for the coats-and-boots season fastly encroaching.—
Miriam Schwartz,
Boston Herald,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
With the shutdown dragging on, GOP leaders in Congress will have to decide soon whether to extend that date, and by how much.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
-
The comments came deep into the third week of the shutdown, which is dragging on with no clear end in sight amid a partisan fight in the Senate over federal funding priorities.—
Kevin Breuninger,
CNBC,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Caplan-Auerbach is studying nearly imperceptible seismic tremors that have preceded major landslides, including the August one in Tracy Arm.—
Ella Nilsen,
CNN Money,
22 Oct. 2025
-
For most folks watching at home, the change was imperceptible.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Even though the regular season is creeping closer by the hour and the anticipation of it all is wafting through the city, Charles Lee insists not much has changed.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Cold temps may be creeping in, but your travel dreams don’t have to hibernate.—
Kimberly Richardson,
CNN Money,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
What truly hampers Regretting You is its inescapable unoriginality, its plodding, uninventive, unthoughtful attempts at swoon and heartbreak.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Oct. 2025
-
Occasionally, as in the obscurity of Legion’s later episodes or the plodding pace of some Fargo plots, this approach can verge on self-indulgence.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Tropical Storm Melissa is crawling through the Caribbean Sea, threatening to unleash life-threatening flooding and mudslides across parts of the region later this week.—
Briana Waxman,
CNN Money,
22 Oct. 2025
-
These flat robots have multiple modes of movement, capable of jumping or crawling at multiple speeds.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The unique silhouette boasted a slanted heel and a tapered toe.—
Kelsey Stewart,
Footwear News,
26 Oct. 2025
-
The Starship lander, by contrast is a silo-like cylinder with a tapered nose cone, measuring 165 feet tall, weighing more than 200,000 pounds and calling to mind less an actual spacecraft than the 1953 illustrated book about Tintin’s adventures on the moon.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The technology included corrupt automatic shuffling machines that read cards and predicted which player had the best hand.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Card-reading contact lenses, X-ray poker tables, trays of poker chips that read cards, hacked shuffling machines that predict hands.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
24 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inching. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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